The Angelic Adavism
by MoonFace01
Summary: A reaper demon is one of the most dangerous kind. With just a touch, it kills its victims. When one breaks into the Urameshi household, Serena, Yusuke's twin sister, has a strange encounter with it. Crossover with YuYu Hakusho. ON HOLD!
1. Chapter 1

Original AN: Hey all, this is my second posted story, and my…somethingth written one

Original AN: Hey all, this is my second posted story, and my…somethingth written one. YuYu Hakusho doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, but the idea of the reaper demon comes somewhat from the Harry Potter dementors, so anyway, enjoy my second fic!

AN as of 7-13: Well, I saw some things I needed to fix (the chapter dillys…I think I need to fix all of those…ugh). I also gave a tish more of description to the reaper's appearance, so I hope I've made the picture a little clearer, sorry! On with the story!

--

Ch 1

Serena rubbed her tired eyes as her wrist watch read "10:23".

Sighing as she stretched, she cursed the planes for being late. Her boyfriend of two years was coming home today after a three month stay in France with his aunt, and she couldn't wait for him to come home.

After what seemed like ages, the gates finally opened and people began streaming to family members or friends as they were greeted back to Tokyo, Japan. Standing on her tiptoes, Serena saw him.

His brown hair was a little longer than usual, and was now in a low ponytail. Another thing she noticed different was the blonde woman that was hanging off of his arm. She was scantily dressed and hugged his arm tightly…a little too tight for Serena's tastes. 'Hold the phone,' she thought as she confusedly made her way to him through the throng of people. As soon as she reached him, he glanced at her for a short second or two, looked away, and kept walking.

'What is he doing?' Her muddled brain was finally set back into drive as someone shoved her none too gently. She sent the man an angry glare before she walked over to a near by bench and sat down. Her head fell into her hands as she suddenly remembered all of the weird things between the two of them. He would barely talk to her over the phone, and sometimes wouldn't call her at all. If and when he did talk to her, the conversations were always short and his answers clipped, usually stopping when she heard a door open.

She then realized what happened.

Her boyfriend had replaced her…with a blonde whore from France.

Slowly she rose and began to run.

It was a strange run…she felt as if time had slowed as her thoughts raced through her mind, and she had to continuously think about running and getting out of there for fear she would collapse and break down right there. After what seemed like forever, she burst through the airport's door and rushed to her car. Fumbling around with the keys, her shaking hands finally grasped the right one as she unlocked her door and slumped into the seat. She put the key into the ignition and helplessly let her head fall to the rough textured steering wheel.

'_You knew it would happen Sere…so why didn't you listen to yourself?'_ Her inner voice was not what she needed right now as she felt ready to burst.

'I thought he loved me…he told me he did and said he would wait for me like I said to him before he left.' After a few good minutes of letting the shock sink in, her first tear finally fell.

--

A half hour later, her sobs finally subsided as she heard her cell phone ring. Roughly grabbing her purse as she tried to regulate her breathing, she rummaged around until her hands slipped against a small keychain that was connected to her phone. Picking it up by that, she freed it from the dark confines of her purse. The small charm was of a rose that he had given her before he left. 'A lot of good it did,' she thought sourly as it was ripped from her phone and tossed carelessly to the backseat. 'Always have this with you, because it will keep me bound to you,' she mocked as she opened her phone to see who was calling. 'Great, just who I need.'

"Hello?"

"_Yo, Serena! I thought you were going to be home by now; what's keeping you?"_

'Just like my brother Yusuke to yell at everything. I'm really going to get if from him when I tell him about Josh.' She took a deep breath and gathered her courage, but it all whooshed out in a small sob.

Yusuke's voice and demeanor immediately changed when he heard his twin sister sob instead of reply. _"Oh Serena, tell me what happened, ok?" _'It's probably that jerk, Josh,' he thought on his end of the phone.

From his position on the counter top in the kitchen of their small house, he listened to her sob out her story. When Yusuke hadn't immediately hung up with his sister, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara all walked into the kitchen, wondering why he was still on the phone.

Hiei glared at him. "I thought you were going to be a moment, Urameshi," he ground out testily. 'I thought that girl would be back by now, and the rest of us on the mission.'

Kurama shook his head at the three eyed fire apparition. 'Calm yourself, Hiei,' said the fox telepathically. 'Something's not right.'

Kurama got a grunt as a reply and sighed as his attention went back to Yususke.

"_Well, do you think you'll be able to drive yourself back, Sere? I really don't want you to, considering your condition, you know?"_

Serena smiled softly. Her brother could be sweet if the need arose, which it apparently had. "No, I'll be fine." She wiped her eyes with her free hand and asked if the guys were over.

"Yeah, they're all here...why?" Yusuke glanced to the three guys assembled in his living room who were "pretending" not to listen.

"_Well, just tell them hi I guess, and to apologize for taking so long on the phone with you."_

He could hear her sigh on the other end, and protested. "No, it's ok, they don't mind!" As if his little sister could see him, he began rubbing the back of his head in nervousness.

"Don't fake it, Yusuke," said Serena as she turned the car on. "I know Hiei is getting impatient; that's who he is, after all. Kurama most likely looks like he doesn't mind, but really does, and Kuwabara's probably just spacing out or talking about your next mission."

Little did she know, she had it right on the dot.

Hiei was now pacing and muttering about 'stupid girls' and 'we need to get a move on'.

Yusuke heard Hiei's last comment and frowned as he clicked the phone off. "Not until she gets home safely, Hiei. Mom would murder me if she wasn't home yet and we were gone."

Hiei was beyond irritated. "Then where is your mother, Urameshi?" He began pacing again as he waited for the Spirit Detective's answer.

"She can't be a good parent in one day, Hiei," Yusuke deadpanned. "She may have been sad when I died, and happy to know I wasn't, but she can't do a 180 in no time!!" Both boys were now nose to nose as their argument escalated.

--

Serena sighed as she pulled onto the highway and made her way home from the airport…short one passenger. She glared at the empty seat and quickly turned her eyes back to the road. 'Well, I'll definitely get a lot of stuff done on my music,' came the irritable thought.

She wrote music in her spare time, and was fairly good at it. She performed in a few small Irish themed pubs singing different versions of some folk songs she learned. Rewriting them for a modern day era was difficult, but she loved challenges. And whenever she would get mad at her brother, mother, or anyone else, she would always lock herself into her room and write until her eyes wanted to fall out.

Sighing, she exited on her street and slowed to a normal speed. She couldn't stand the silence anymore and turned her radio on to see if there were any good songs she could sing to. A strained smile crossed her face as the remix of "Smooth Criminal" came on and turned the volume up on her radio as she screamed a long with the lyrics.

The song finished as she pulled into the driveway and removed the keys. Sighing and stepping out of the car, she readied herself for some kind of yelling from any four of the young men in the house.

When the door was opened and she stepped in, she heard Hiei and her brother yelling back and forth. She cleared her throat and wanted to sink into the floor as both of the boys glared at her. Swallowing nervously, she waved meekly and said "You guys can leave now, if you want."

Hiei huffed and picked his sword up from its position of leaning against the wall. "It's about time." He stormed out the door and expected the others to follow.

She turned sadly to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry if I kept all of you waiting for longer than you wanted to be," she said as she took off her shoes and she walked into the house the rest of the way. "Something unexpected came up at the airport."

"Yeah," said Kuwabara. "I thought you would be bringing Josh home…" 'Creep,' thought the orange haired boy angrily.

She shook her head as her eyes flamed at the boys' name. "No, I don't think any of us will be seeing him again." Just as she was about to walk dejectedly to her room, warm arms came around her and squeezed. She leaned her head back into her brother's shoulder and whispered her thanks.

Yusuke hugged his sister tightly and gave her a comforting kiss on her hair. "Don't worry…he was a creep anyway," he said as he let her go. Sighing to let the rest of his brotherly love out, he walked over to the remaining two members of the team. "We don't know when we'll be home, so take care of the fort while we're gone, ok?" Receiving a nod and a thumbs up, he walked away.

Serena's gaze fell on Kurama, and she smiled. "Nice to see you, Kurama." She bowed and gave a small smile.

Kurama bowed and smiled in return. "Always a pleasure, Serena. We shouldn't be too long, but if you need to contact us, you know where the communicator is, yes?"

"Yes, I have it in my pocket at all times, Kurama." She reached to her pocket and removed it to prove her point. "Thank you for your concern, but you'd better get going if you don't want Hiei to get any angrier."

Kurama laughed slightly. "Well, it's not very often that he gets that way." His face suddenly went serious as he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "You know he's not mad at you, right? He just was getting frustrated about the mission."

She nodded and whispered, "I know." 'Wow,' she thought, 'this feels really nice.' She felt herself redden at the direction her thoughts were going in.

"Kurama!! Get your kitsune keester out here right now!"

Serena and Kurama broke apart laughing so hard they thought they would faint. "I think you'd better get going," said Serena as she pushed Kurama to the door.

He laughed as the blonde haired sixteen-year old shoved him to the door. "Fine, fine, I will, ok?" He was shoved to the doorway in no time, and he bent over to place his shoes on his feet. "Take care, alright?" And with that, he was gone with the others.

She smiled. "I hope their mission is quick," she murmured as she looked around the now empty and quiet house.

--

After a marathon of music writing, Serena removed her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes. Soon, her earphones followed her glasses, and her ears were then rubbed. "I need softer earphones." She was about to get into bed when she heard a creak down the hallway. Her ears rang with the intensity of the music she had been writing, but she carefully listened for it again.

When the creak sounded again, she was instantly on edge. 'I know it's not Mom…she said she would call when she was leaving the club…which,' she thought with an irritated sigh, 'she still hasn't yet.' She began ranting in her had about 'partying mothers' when a huge crash sounded through the house.

She was so scared she could actually feel the blood drain from her face. 'It's not the guys either,' she thought as she grabbed her baseball bat and headed for the living room. Her right hand came lose from the bat as it looked for the communicator her brother had given her a few months ago, and pulled it out of the pocket in her pajama bottoms.

As she entered the living room, she felt herself go as white as a sheet. It was rather tall, with long, skeleton like fingers that were searching for…something. 'The aura around this thing…I don't know what it is…but it's cold,' she thought as she shivered. The demon was handsome in a cold way, its white hair slicked back from it's pale face and dark eyes. It turned and she barely ducked back behind the corner of the wall in time to not be seen.

Turning back to its work, it touched a plant, instantly killing it. 'A Reaper demon...' Her brother told her about those. She dashed back into her room and pressed the alert button on her communicator as she set her bat down. It would be of little use. Seconds later, a bruised and battered Yusuke came onto the screen.

"Hey sis, what's going on?" His breathing calmed as he took in her death like appearance. Her eyes were wide and trembling, her normally peachy skin was as white a ghost, and the communicator was shaking.

"I hate to interrupt," she whispered, looking over her shoulder as a large crash came into her ears, "but I have a problem."

Yusuke and the rest of the team also heard the crash and they were all crowded around the communicator. Hiei was even standing behind Kurama and keeping an ear open trying to appear uninterested. "What is it?"

Another loud bang went over the communicator as Serena dodged into the closet and closed the door. Seconds later, a flashlight was switched on as it eerily cast shadows over her face, making it look even whiter. "It's a demon in the house Yusuke," her shaky voice replied. Short gasps were coming from her lips as she tried to calm herself down.

The teen with black hair grabbed the communicator tighter as he hung on every word his sister said. "What kind?" A cold sweat had broken out on his body, and he shivered as he waited for the type of demon that had broken into the house with his defenseless sister.

One word shattered the calm walls he had over his face. "Reaper."

Not a second after the word was uttered, the closet door slammed open to reveal the demon smiling grimly at his prey. A long bony arm reached for the girl as she screamed her brother's name as she scrambled away, dropping the communicator face down in the process.

However she wasn't fast enough to avoid it completely. An icy gaunt finger brushed her ankle as she rushed under his legs.

She instantly felt herself slow down and weaken. 'Can't stop, need to get away,' were her fractured thoughts as the adrenaline pumped through her system. She scrambled up, but once again was not fast enough. The demon grabbed her neck and pinned her to the floor as she felt its cold aura begin to slowly wrap itself around her already shivering body. The coldness seeped into her bones and slowly and achingly began replacing her warm blood with a chilling emptiness.

She could barely hear her brother and friends shouting over the communicator on the floor where she had dropped it. Her arms tried grabbing at the freezing claws that were taking her life, but she could barely lift them. 'They feel so…heavy…' They slowly rose and grabbed his hands.

The laugh he emitted raked painfully against her ears as she struggled to breathe.

"It will do you no good," he ground out as he watched her thrash about. The cold eyes were clouded with pleasure as he watched her try to release its hold. "You know," he rasped as cold breath wafted over her blue lips, "it's been a while since someone lasted this long. I wonder," the demon murmured seemingly to himself. "Do you have some dormant powers in you, little one? Maybe that's what's keeping you here…" He lifted a hand and trailed it down her face.

She shivered as the cold air of its breath and the long finger trailed over her quickly cooling face. Her breath seemed to disappear…and what was stranger was it seemed as if she didn't need it anymore. The beating of her heart slowed until it completely stopped, and it frightened her not to hear the loud hammering it had been doing before. Her body let out a last spasm before she felt herself die.

But, why was she still conscious?

"Hm…." The demon seemed confused as he removed his hand from her cold form. "How are you still conscious?"

She slowly sat up and reached her hands to her face…but she didn't feel anything but a cold numbness. Her hands were quickly pulled under her gaze, and she was shocked to see her skin a sickly grey color. She felt herself becoming frightened, but quick breaths didn't come. Shaky hands grabbed her throat as she felt for a pulse and breathing…but was horrified to find neither.

She finally found her voice. "What the hell did you do to me?!" Her legs brought her up and she stood before the demon as he gazed at her. "Well, I was supposed to kill you like I did the plant in the living room…but it seems like you have another power within you that is preventing you from dying." He calmly rose to his feet and began to disappear.

Her hand reached for him, demanding the demon to stay. "Wait! Will I be like this forever?"

The demon smiled coldly, revealing white teeth that looked too perfect. "There is a way, but you will have to find that out for yourself, little one." It finally disappeared, leaving her cold and frightened.

Screaming suddenly broke her from her stupor.

'Of course, the communicator,' she thought absently as she reached to pick it up.

Usually, it was cool against her palm, but she was shocked to find it warmer than her own hand. Her voice was level and cool as she spoke. "I'm still here," she said calmly, not letting the boys see her face. 'If it looks like my hands, it'll be grey, and a not very pretty sight to see.'

"Are you ok?! Serena, answer me!!" Yusuke was panicking now. He ran a sweaty and shaky hand through his gelled hair, messing it. 'If it's a reaper and it did its job, how is she still talking to us?' He almost didn't want to now the answer.

Serena was now standing in front of a mirror and sadly looked at her face. Her eyes were dull and void of any life they once held, and her face was ashen and cold to the touch. Her lips were cold as well and her cheeks stiff. Slowly, but surely, she lifted the communicator to her face, causing the boys to gasp.

"Serena, what happened?" Kurama was shocked to see Serena in such a state. 'She looks…dead…but how is it possible that she's still standing and thinking?' His eyes began to water as they took in the appearance of the once lively girl. What happened to his Serena?

_-Yours, Suiichi?-_

'Be quiet, Yoko. This is serious.'

_-I know it's serious, Suiichi,-_ the fox demon replied quietly. _–How was she 'killed' by a reaper demon, yet is still 'alive'?-_

Kurama's emerald orbs were still locked on the image on the communicator. 'That's the question on everyone's mind, Yoko. And it's one I'm sure we will all be determined to discover.'

Kurama and Yoko stopped speaking as Yusuke's voice commanded Serena to stay in the house. "We'll come as soon as we can. Our mission wasn't too far, and we're finished, so we'll be there in no time at all, Serena. Just stay calm."

To the entire world it did seem like the girl was calm. 'That's only because I can't shed tears anymore, or I can't breathe.' Her face looked distressed, but couldn't show any other emotion. Her chest was tight with sorrow, and her heart was aching...at least she thought it was. She was stunned to discover a wetness trailing from her cheeks and was horrified to find blood instead of water.

She despairingly looked out the window at the storm that had broken a few seconds ago and asked 'What will I do now?'

--

Read and Review, thanks!

-MoonFace01


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

She was sitting on the window seat in the destroyed living room when her brother burst through the door. "Oh my god, Serena…" He was shocked beyond all belief that she was still in the realm of the living looking the way she was. He quickly rushed over to her and brought her into his arms, but shivered at her freezing skin.

Serena's face got even sadder as she felt her brother's shiver against her skin. "You're warm, Yusuke," she whispered as her arms encircled his waist, making him shiver even more. She finally broke away and stood by the window. Bloody tears made angry tracks down her face. 'I'm so cold it makes my brother shiver…I'm nothing but a monster now.'

Yusuke sadly watched his sister disentangle herself from his arms to stand by the window. 'She was so cold and lifeless…she should never be like that!' He rushed to the fireplace and lit the wood that was piled there. 'Hopefully it'll warm her up a bit.' He was also a little stunned to see blood running down her face, and he was quickly reminded of a vampire for some reason. The gel-slicked hair on his head came loose as he shook his head.

Hiei watched in shock as the normally happy girl pulled away from her brother. Even he, who was usually as emotionless as a rock, felt her pain. 'She's not used to being alone and so cold,' he thought.

Kuwabara walked over to Serena, but stopped short. 'She has an evil aura surrounding her, but way in there, there's something warm…she has some spirit energy, and it's keeping her alive.' He finally walked up to her the rest of the way, grabbed her hands, and looked into her eyes. 'They're so soulless,' he thought as he searched them. His gaze then fell to her hands.

Serena smiled sadly as Kuwabara began rubbing her hands to get them a little warmer. "Don't bother, Kuwabara, it won't work for long. It's like my hands are meant to be cold."

Kurama walked to Yusuke. "We need to see if Koenma knows anything about this." He sadly looked over to Serena who was now huddled in blankets sitting in front of the fire talking with Kuwabara. The light eerily danced across her grey skin as she tried to warm herself up.

"Yeah," Yusuke replied lifelessly.

_-I know there's a cure, but I don't know what,-_ said Yoko quietly. _–It's pretty rare that someone survives an attack like that, so it's also a pretty rare cure.-_

Kurama nodded as he listened to Yoko. 'From the looks of it, it seems like she had some dormant spirit energy, and now the evil that tried to take her life corrupted the power instead, turning it into a complete opposite of what it once was.'

Yoko agreed. ­_–The energy coming from her was always light and happy…and pure. Like an angel or something. Kind of like a light demon, you know?-_

'Which are pretty much a contradiction to demon society,' thought Kurama. 'She can't be a demon though, because then Yusuke would be one too, right? So then he would also have to be a light demon, and his aura doesn't feel the same as hers. Either that, or she wouldn't be here right now.'

_-We might need to wait until morning for this; I'm getting tired of trying to figure this all out. We just need more time to think.-_

Kurama once again agreed with Yoko. 'You're right…we'll have clear minds tomorrow.' He clapped his friend on the back. "Come on," he said as he straightened from his lean against the wall. "Let's all get some rest and we'll figure this out when we have a clean slate."

The others nodded and left to their sleeping quarters when they came to Yusuke's house.

Hiei leapt out onto a tree branch outside, Kurama took the couch, and Kuwabara grabbed a sleeping bag from the hallway closet. Serena shrugged the blanket off and walked to her room. 'I wonder if a thing like me will need sleep,' she thought. 'If not, I'm going to get a lot of things done, and time will drag on even more.'

Kurama sleepily blinked his eyes open as his keen ears picked up a sound. It was someone singing. 'I wonder if Serena's gotten any sleep.'

_-Most likely not,- _replied a sleepy Yoko. ­_–If she's 'dead', then she most likely doesn't need sleep, and it'll make her experience of being like this even worse,-_ the kitsune demon noted. He then tried to lighten things up. _–Which is perfect for me, since I really don't plan on sleeping when we're in the same room with her.-_

'Yoko!' Kurama blushed, his face matching his hair perfectly. 'Goodness, not now with the perverted jokes, alright? She's hurting right now…for Pete's sake, she's 'DEAD'! Do you really think she'll go for something like that anyway when she's just been dumped by the creep?'

Kurama could practically feel Yoko's smirk. _–Exactly, Minamino, exactly. She'll be really depressed, so maybe I can cheer her up!-_

'Goodness, Yoko, calm down! We won't be…'cheering her up', as you so put it, so get those thoughts from your head! Besides,' he said calmly. 'We want her to be able to enjoy it, anyway.'

­_-Haha, that's my boy, Suiichi!-_

The red haired teen blushed as he realized what he just said. He soon brushed that thought aside as he stood before her door. 'Well, here goes nothing,' he thought as he opened the door and prepared to step in.

When he was greeted by the sight of Serena chewing on her pencil as she thought, he smiled. 'Well, at least her writing hasn't been ruined by this little 'experience,' thought Kurama as he smiled. Soon after, her voice floated over the silence to test what she had written.

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

I wish I were on yonder hill

'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill

'Til every tear would turn a mill

I'll sell my rock, I'll sell my reel

I'll sell my only spinning wheel

And buy my love a sword of steel

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

I'll dye my petticoats, I'll dye them red

And 'round the world I'll beg my bread

'Til my parents shall wish me dead

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin

Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin

Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom

Is go dté tú mo mhúirnín slán

Serena smiled as the music in the headphones faded. 'It's so ironic,' she thought as she heard the original music through the headphones. 'There's a verse about her love going to France to make it big…that's what Josh did, but he didn't come back to me.' She smiled sadly and removed her earphones, now missing the aching it had put her ears through. But something her ears still did was hear, and she heard soft clapping. Turning to her door, she found Kurama.

He smiled as her eyes grew in size, showing that he had startled her. For a while, the two stood in silence, and Yoko was yelling at Suiichi to say something.

_-Come on, you listened to her song, and liked it, I might add, now you need to say something! Compliment her, do SOMETHING!-_

Kurama finally walked forward and grabbed her hand, his smile slightly dimming as he thought about how her hand shouldn't be that cold. "I must say, you're quite talented, Serena. The song was lovely." He brought her frozen hand to his lips and brushed them against the cold appendage.

If she could blush, she would put Kurama's hair to shame. 'But sadly, I can't.' Her mood was brought down the littlest of bits as she realized her cold hand was stealing heat from Kurama's warm body. However, she smiled. "Thank you Kurama. You've never heard me play, have you?"

_-Good, she's smiling; keep it up Suiichi, ok? If you need any tips or anything-_

'I'll be sure NOT to ask you, Yoko.'

The silver fox huffed but took a back seat in Suiichi's mind and watched the scene unfold. ­_–Just promise me this, Suiichi,- _he murmured as if an after thought.

'Yes?'

_-If she becomes our mate, let me out once in a while, ok?-_

Suiichi blushed but nodded as his attention was brought back on the girl before him. "Would you mind if you played a song for me? Maybe the one I half heard, hm?"

Her questioning gaze met his warm green one. "What, Siúil a Rúin, you mean?" She stepped back over to her computer, bringing Kurama with her due to their still interlocked hands. She then grabbed her pair of earphones and placed them over her ears, and grabbed an extra pair for Kurama.

He expected her to give them to him to place on his head himself, but blushed when she placed them over his sensitive ears by herself. Her skin may be cold, but her hands were very soft.

She grinned softly as she saw Kurama blushing out of the corner of her eyes. She then attempted at grabbing another chair to pull over to the computer, but was stopped by a pair of warm arms pulling her down to Kurama's lap. She laughed, "Are you sure you want me to sit on you?"

Kurama smiled back as she didn't try to pry from his grasp. "Yes, you will be sitting on me, so deal with it." The two laughed for a second as Serena pulled up the song from her documents. Pulling it to her play list, the song began immediately.

After she sang the song, the next one on the play list began playing. Serena reached forward and turned the volume down and turned as best she could to look at Kurama's face. "So, did you like it?" Her fingers began twining nervously as he stayed silent.

He was in awe. Her voice…it was wonderful! 'Like a siren…' His face once again resembled a fire truck, and he tried to shake his head to get his face to return to the normal color. "It was wonderful. I like it with the music, it's very well written, Serena."

­_-Gosh, -_ quipped Yoko, _-For a sec there I thought you'd gone comatose, Minamino. You were right about her voice though.-_ Kurama heard the fox demon sigh. _–It's truly an angel here with us.-_

Kurama grinned as the fox thief's voice became soft. 'You really like her don't you, Yoko?'

The fox shrugged. _–She's beautiful too, and she's probably a great kisser.-_

Kurama sighed. 'Well, I guess there's no changing his habits.' He hugged the girl tighter to him and sighed. Then, he felt it. A yawn was trying to push its way to his mouth. He didn't want her to think he was tired, so he yawned with his mouth shut.

Serena laughed. "Nice try, Kurama, but I felt you yawn," she said as she poked him in the chest. "I know you're tired, so go and get some rest, ok? Besides," her hands began brushing through his hair, "it was YOU who suggested we might be able to figure out what was wrong with me after we all got some sleep, right?"

"Turning my own words against me," he mumbled. "You vixen, you." After a few more seconds of him holding her, he lifted her from his lap and stood up. "Well, goodnight then, my angel." He once again kissed her hand and smiled as he walked out of the door back to the living room with the lumpy couch.

_-I hate that couch.-_

Kurama had to agree.

After Kurama left, Serena fell onto her bed. 'Wow, that was…exciting.' Strange though it was to not feel her heart beating in her chest, or to feel her face heat up when Kurama got close enough.

She smiled sadly. 'Ah, to feel again.'

They would be paying 'the toddler' a visit tomorrow. She had to hand it to her brother; the nickname for the prince was quite a funny one. 'But his teenage form isn't half bad, if he would remove the pacifier.' She shook her head. 'It's most likely there for a reason.' She would always feel a strong presence around it, like it was storing energy or something.

Shrugging, she returned to her music.

The next morning, the ringing of the phone woke Yusuke. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he tried to wake up. Eyes filled with sleep attempted to locate the noise maker, but found the clock instead. "7:30? Who the hell is calling this early?" He was about to reach for the phone when it stopped ringing. He sighed and fell backwards back into bed.

Serena sat up from her position of leaning against the headboard of her bed to look at the caller I.D. on the phone. It was from Mel's Bar. She angrily read the clock's digits. '7:30.' She picked he phone up and pressed the 'Talk' button. "Hello?"

"_Whoa,"_ came the voice of the bar owner, Mel. _"Sorry to be calling so early, but your Mom says she would be coming home late."_

The blonde/silver haired girl growled into the phone irritably. "You mean late as in last night late, or as in this morning late?" She rubbed her tired eyes and wished now that she could sigh. 'So many emotions can be conveyed through a sigh.'

"_Well, this morning late I guess if she didn't call you last night. Actually, I just remembered something. She said she'd be staying with an old college friend for the next few weeks."_

'Well, that'll give us time to find out what's wrong with me and find a cure before she figures out that someone else of her family died. Besides, she'd kill Yusuke.' "Fine Mel, thanks for calling."

"_No problem, Rena." _Click.

She was mad right now. Beyond mad, really. She stormed to her room, grabbed her fiddle, and began to play. 'If I'm up and thinking this early, everyone else should be too.' Her fingers lazily drifted over the strings, but after a minute or so, began to get louder and pick up speed. Dull eyes closed as her fingers began flying over the strings, her mouth in a deep frown of concentration. She began walking from her room to stand in front of her brother's. After he grumpily opened the door, she gave him a sweet smile and moved to the window. She looked out to the tree to see Hiei glaring, as usual. With another sweet smile, she made her last stop in the living room where Kurama and Kuwabara were sleeping. She began playing even louder, and Kuwabara looked like he wanted to deck her for interrupting his sleep. Kurama woke with a start, but smiled when he heard the playing. After another few seconds, she finally drew the last chord out and stopped. "Morning, all." The violin fell to her side as everyone began complaining at once.

"Oh hush. You all needed to be up and about anyway." She set her fiddle down on the coffee table in the living room and straightened, a serious mask on her face. "Or have you forgotten?"

The yelling stopped as they took in her appearance in the morning light. Her skin was even greyer now that the sun was out, and her hair was limp in its ponytail. Deep, angry bags hung under her eyes, giving her a haunted look, and her eyes themselves were a clouded blue.

"I'll make breakfast while you guys talk to Koenma, alright?" She headed to the kitchen and grabbed a blanket as an after thought.

Yusuke looked after his sister sadly. "Yeah, she's right." He walked to his room and grabbed to communicator, pressing the button labeled for Koenma.

"_Koenma here, what's going on Yusuke? Why are you calling so early?"_

The team of teens saw Koenma in his teddy bear pajamas and had to temporarily disconnect the link so they could laugh their guts out, Yusuke and Kuwabara more than Hiei and Kurama. After finally regaining their breath and composure, they re-established the line and muttered a "sorry" as the toddler glared.

"_Well?"_

Yusuke sighed and began his tale. "Well, last night while I was out on duty, a demon broke into the house."

Koenma immediately looked to Yusuke and forgot about his breakfast. _"What kind? If there's a breach in the wall, you need to find it."_

"Well, I think my sister's condition is more important than a hole, at least right now." He glared at the baby and continued, mentally chanting a mantra. 'Stay calm, stay calm, stay clam.' "The type of demon that attacked her was a reaper demon Koenma, and I think we have quite a predicament on our hands."

The child sighed as he swiped at ogre to leave his food alone. "Well, if it was a reaper demon, then there IS no condition for her. She's dead, Yusuke."

Yusuke was about to yell at the young ruler for putting his sister off as dead so lightly, but was interrupted when Serena walked into the room and snatched the communicator from her brother. "Do I look dead to you? Well, maybe I do, but my soul is still in the human world."

Koenma coughed on his cereal and stared open mouthed at the spirit detective's twin. "What happened, Serena? You look horrible."

Serena fisted her hands and repeated the same mantra as her brother. "Gee, thanks Koenma, just what every girl wants to hear in the morning." She ran her hands through her hair and once again wished she could sigh. "It did 'kill' me, but I'm still here, and I don't know why."

Kuwabara coughed to gain some attention. "Well, I can answer that," he explained. "You used to have a bright and friendly aura around you, but now it's dark and ominous. I think you had spirit energy before that had to do with the light, and that thing didn't kill you, but reversed the type of your powers."

Yoko huffed. ­_–I wanted to explain everything…I figured it out first,- _ pouted the demon.

Kurama shook his head. "Well, in any case, we have identified the problem, but don't know how to solve it." He and the others walked to the living room and he plopped on the couch. "I heard from Yoko that the condition is rare, as is the cure,"

Serena walked from the kitchen into the living room with some pancakes. "But the demon told me last night that I would have to find the cure for myself, so that had me thinking it could be medicine or a spell or something like that."

Hiei nodded. "Well, if we are to find any information about this, I think we need the use of the library in the castle, don't you think Kurama?" The little fire apparition gazed at the pancakes warily before picking one up and taking a thoughtful and slightly cautious bite.

Kurama nodded as he grinned at Hiei.

_-Well, he's never had pancakes before…I would think it would be a little strange to him, don't you think?-_

He sighed as he heard Yoko's voice echo through his head. 'Yes, I know Yoko. But in the meantime, we need to think about where to look for the cure.' He ran his hands through his hair and voiced his concern to his companions.

Yusuke thoughtful began rubbing his chin. "Good question…would it be with the reaper information or under a cure?" He then remembered how large the library of Koenma's castle was. He vaguely remembered ogres running all over the place when he had visited there the first time, and it looked like a mad house.

Kuwabara then looked at the pancakes and snatched about four or five and began chowing down. "These are good Serena," he managed to choke out with food flying. "I need the recipe from you!"

Serena had sat down on the couch and pulled an umbrella out of nowhere and held it in front of her. The spray of food instead ended up on her hotheaded brother who was still talking to Koenma.

"Ugh, Kuwabara, you could at least chew with your friggin' mouth closed!" In his hair was now about a third of a pancake. His hand rose and angrily brushed it away as he continued talking to the child ruler of the Spirit World. "So, are you going to open a portal or something?"

Koenma nodded. "But just be careful of your sister, Yusuke. This will be her first visit to spirit world after all. It may be a bit overwhelming for her." He then turned back to his breakfast. "As soon as all of you are ready, just give me a call and I'll open the portal." The connection then went dead.

Yusuke lifted his eyes to gaze at the now empty plate of pancakes. "Hey, who in the world ate them all?" He was the one who had been talking to Koenma, the least they could have done was save him a few!

A plate of fresh hot pancakes was then wafted under his nose. "You got the fresh batch since you haven't had any yet," his sister explained. "That's the last of the batter."

Yusuke was about to ask his sister why she didn't have any, but he then realized something. "You probably can't eat, can you?"

Her head shook. "I really have no idea, but I really don't want to find out. If I do, then we'll just cross that bridge when it comes, ok?" Standing, she headed to her room to change.

About fifteen minutes later, Serena came out of her room and sighed as she headed to the kitchen. She frowned and scratched at the bandages she had covering her entire body with the exception of her head. 'I look like a mummy,' she thought dryly. But she felt really uncomfortable looking at her grey skin all the time.

On her chest was an Egyptian style necklace, golden wrist guards in her wrists and ankles, and a white skirt with gold trim that fell to the floor with thigh high slits. 'Well, why not look the part to a T?' She fiddled with her hair before putting it in a high ponytail and entering the living room.

Yusuke spotted his sister and couldn't resist. "So, are you trying out for the next mummy movie?" He found sometimes it was best to poke fun of the problem to deal with it, and the theory hadn't let him down yet.

Hiei spotted her next. "Nice costume, Urameshi." He flicked a piece of hair that was in her face. "Going with the Egyptian look now are we?"

It was true. She looked like a character that had stepped right out of a movie.

Kuwabara grinned stupidly and rushed to her side. Picking up her hand, he asked her a question. "Will you go out with me?"

Serena giggled. "Sorry Kuwabara, but I'll have to pass…at least until I'm 'alive' again." She laughed as she removed her hands from his and stood by her brother. "So, when are we going?"

Kurama boiled at the thought of her going out with Kuwabara and stiffened as he heard Yoko laughing in his head.

Yusuke was in his usual green school uniform when he looked to his watch. "Yeah, I called Koenma a few minutes ago, and he said he'll be opening a portal in about five minutes. Just to tell you," he said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "This little trip through the portal will probably make you sick for a while and being in the Spirit World may be a little…" he trailed off at a loss for the right word.

Serena elegantly raised an eyebrow. "Weird?"

Yusuke sputtered for a moment and eventually shut his mouth. "I was looking for a better way to say it, but that works." He couldn't really describe the feeling he got when he traveled through the portal for the first time, or how strange it was when he stepped foot into the large castle for the first time. 'Weird is the understatement of the year,' he thought as he ran a hand through his un-gelled hair.

Kurama smiled as he watched the twins bicker. 'She's just as stubborn as Yusuke, and twice as smart.'

_-And she's prettier, we can't forget that Suiichi.-_

The red haired teen sighed in frustration. 'Well, Serena IS a she, you know.'

_­_The fox laughed at Suiichi. _–Exactly, Suiichi.-_

Shaking his head, he felt a little draft before a black portal popped open in front of him. "Any closer and I don't even want to know what would have happened to me."

The siblings stopped yelling and looked to the portal. "Ok Serena, here we go," said Yusuke as he grabbed her hand. "Now, it will feel weird, but it'll be ok."

Serena looked at the portal in nervousness. 'They say it's supposed to feel cold, but it doesn't.' It was probably her strange 'condition' that made the miniature black hole in front of her seem a little friendlier. She let her brother pull her in, and she was kind of surprised.

She didn't feel anything.

Her brother had said her stomach would turn, she would get dizzy, and she would feel like she would be turned inside out. 'Maybe it's because a dead body's never gone through it before and said "Hey, I feel fine."' A grim smirk crossed her lips as she came out on the other side. She smoothly walked out with no nausea or dizziness, but laughed at her friends.

Yusuke stumbled out, his face resembling his green uniform. He stumbled over to some shrubbery and let out the contents of his stomach, Kuwabara quickly mimicking him. Kurama only slightly stumbled and had only a light sheen of sweat over his brow. Hiei just took a deep breath and sighed. "I hate portals," grumbled the short fire apparition.

Her brother, after puking his guts out, slowly walked back over to her and searched her for any sickness or injury. "You ok?" His voice was raspy, no doubt from the food and acid that had previously traveled the wrong way in his esophagus.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The Spirit Detective face faulted. 'No fair, how come she doesn't get sick?' His thoughts paused for a moment as he led the small group to the entrance of the castle. 'Well, maybe it's 'cause a person who was attacked by a Reaper that was still 'alive' has never passed through before.' Shaking his head, he informed the party of another member that would be joining them soon. "Boton's going to lead us all in after we get to the front gates, so be on the lookout for a girl with pink eyes and blue hair."

Serena rolled her eyes and followed her brother and his friends into the massive gate in front of them.

There's another chapter! Thanks to those who read and review! I have no idea who wrote Siúil a rúin, but it wasn't me. The song I had in mind was the one the Celtic Women sing, it's way awesome! Anyway, if I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter, oopsie on my part, so I'll put them here: I just wanna say I own none of these characters, the people who created them do, and any songs I have in these stories, I don't own them either, and I hope you guys stick around for my next chapter and my other fics!

MoonFace01


	3. Chapter 3

Oh my goodness

Oh my goodness! Almost two years since my last update, eee! Thanks to everyone who's reading the story, and an extra big thanks to those who are reviewing! Let's hope my lines are showing up to separate the story now; apologies for my other chapters if they confused anyone!

Disclaimer: The characters belong to their rightful creators; I only own the storyline…which I hope is good!

--

Ch 3

Yusuke stormed into the room where the ruler of spirit world resided. "Yo, toddler, we need to use your library." He plopped onto the desk and glared at the baby over his pacifier.

The child/teen sighed. "Yes I know Yusuke, but I would like to see Serena first if you don't mind. I may be able to tell you some things about her condition. Boton may be of some help as well."

Serena walked out from behind her brother in her mummy attire and Koenma's eyes bugged. "Well, you certainly are playing the part of the mummy, Serena."

Her face mirrored Hiei's mask and she glared at Koenma. "Yes yes, but it's better than having to look at my sickly, grey, ashen skin isn't it Koenma? Or would you rather see me under the wraps in the light? I assure you it isn't pretty, and it's ten times worse than my face." After a moment of silence, she carefully began removing her bandages over her arms.

Yusuke grabbed her icy hands. "You don't need to show him if you don't want to," he whispered as he looked her in the eyes.

"I need to," was her quiet response. "I can't run from this forever." As the bandage was removed up to her elbow, the toddler was aghast at what he saw. Her skin was gaunt and grey as she said, not her usual peach. It truly made her look like a zombie.

He smiled sadly and bowed. "I apologize, Serena, if I seemed at all indifferent to the situation. There's a particular spot in my library dedicated to reapers and another for cures. I hope you are successful with your search."

Smiling sadly at the young prince, she bowed as she replaced her wrappings. "Thank you Koenma."

--

Thirty minutes and thirty books later, Serena hadn't found anything close to a cure. Absentmindedly she scratched at a sore that had been created by scraping skin from her arm. Koenma said he would get some people to research it to see if they could find out anything about her strange condition including attacks, a possible cure, and other useful things. 'Like if I go into a rage or not.'

She greatly feared that possibility. What if she couldn't recognize her friends and saw them as an enemy? She could kill them without even knowing it. 'Hopefully they'll find something to prevent that.' Slamming another book to the side, she let her head fall into another one that was already open, ready to be searched. 'If I wasn't already dead, I'd kill myself right now.'

Leafing through it, she felt herself begin to cry blood tears. She angrily wiped them away and then realized they left bright red stains on her bandages. 'Yay, I get to change them again.'

Just as she was about to give up, something caught her eye. 'Cure for the touch of a reaper demon…' She quickly turned to the page and began to read.

_If one is touched by the reaper demon, there is a chance one of the following can happen: death, or power corruption if the right energy is held by the individual._

'…sounds about right.' Sitting back in the chair, she sighed and prepared herself for a long read. After a few more minutes of scanning, she found what she was looking for.

_For a cure, there is one of two things the still 'living' person can do. One is to go to Hanging Neck Island and obtain the proper herbs to create a concoction to cure the individual; or, the afflicted person can destroy the reaper demon with the Sword of Light (see page 4587). _

She let out a sigh but went to look for it anyway. After ten more minutes of looking, she rubbed her eyes that were beginning to strain under reading such small print. Cursing herself for not thinking about bringing her reading glasses, she squinted her eyes in an attempt to stop the small headache that was building behind her eyes.

However, her brother walked past her and tapped her shoulder. "Need these?" He held her small reading glasses in his hand.

"Yeah, thanks bro," she replied as she put them on. "Much better," quietly mumbled the younger Urameshi twin. She then returned to her reading.

Yusuke stood over her shoulder. "So you found anything yet?" His brown eyes began scanning the page and they stopped on a picture of a "Sword of Light" or something. 'Is that possible?'

"Yeah, I found the cure, but neither of them sounds exactly easy. With one, you need to go on a huge journey to find the Sword of Light, and another is collecting a lot of rare herbs that exist only in the demon world. Kurama might be able to help us there, but the sword would be a little more difficult." She finished her condensed version of what the book had told her and sat back as she cracked her back.

Yusuke pat his sister on the shoulder. "At least we have something to go off of now. Good job, Book Worm."

"Just because I'm smarter than you, Yusuke, doesn't mean I'm a nerd. Look at Kurama; is _he _a nerd?" The two siblings looked over to Kurama who was perched on a ladder reading an old looking book.

Yusuke just sat with his sister in silence for a moment before he finally gave in with an "Ok, I see your point."

Serena nodded 'sweetly' and stood. "Let's go find the others, ok?" The book was put under her arm as she and her brother headed out of the huge library to the smaller office of Koenma.

--

Kurama sighed as he put the book away and looked back down at Serena. She tossed another book to the side and grabbed the second to last one in her pile. 'I hope she finds something soon, she's starting to get a little upset.'

_-A little, Suiichi? She looks about ready to cry again.-_

The red head winced. He didn't like seeing her cry normal salt tears, but it broke his heart (and scared him) when she cried blood tears. Would she eventually cry all her blood out?

_-Vampires can't cry all their blood out,-_ pointed Yoko.

'Yes, well, their situation is a little more permanent Yoko, unlike Serena's.' Kurama found an interesting-looking book another half shelf up, so he began climbing again. Half a second later, he reached out to the leather bound volume. Turning to the index, he found 'reaper demon'. Opening it to the appropriate page, he began reading.

_Those touched by the reaper demon die shortly after contact. Those who don't have very strange spirit energy of two types: one of a light demon, or two, of an Angel (see pg 5647)._

'Angel huh? Let's see what that's about.' After flipping a few pages, Kurama found the article.

_There are instances of a demon gene being passed down through many generations until it finds one strong enough to bear it, and the same is true with an Angel. The gene is passed down until it finds a pure heart and is born again. _

_If the individual is touched by a reaper demon, the power will only become corrupted; death will not befall the individual. This symbolizes a truly pure heart because the individual was pure enough to ward off Death (whether consciously or not). See the book "Cures of Unusual Demons" for the cure._

'Ugh, what? What if Koenma doesn't have that book? What then?'

_-Calm down Suiichi,-_ the demon fox murmured. _–At least we know where to find it now.-_

Kurama was surprised when Yoko was the voice of reason. That never happened.

_-And don't expect it too often, ok? I'm more of the mischievous type to sweep Serena off her feet, not be reasonable.-_ The spirit fox preened a bit before noticing something. _–Hey, she's looking at us.-_

Sure enough, Kurama saw out of the corner of his eyes the Urameshi twins looking at him. His eyebrow rose when Yusuke turned to Serena and mumbled something, and grinned when Serena replied with a sarcastic smile. The two then rose from the table with a book, and left.

'Huh, I guess they found something.' Kurama turned with the book under his arm and began sliding down the four plus story ladder. Hair whipping past him, he smiled at the feeling of free falling. After his shoes clicked on the marble floor, he went to find Hiei and Kuwabara to inform them the twins had left the library.

Hiei was easy enough; Kurama gave him a little message through their telepathy. Kuwabara was easy to find as well. He was sitting at a nearby table scanning through a book about herbs. "Come on Kuwabara, grab what you have and let's head to the office. I saw Serena and Yusuke leave."

The orange haired punk nodded and put the book under his arm.

--

Serena sighed and placed her find on Koenma's desk. Four books followed; Hiei on the legend of the Sword of Light, Kuwabara's on the herbs, and Kurama's telling about the Angel's gene.

Koenma quickly read the highlighted paragraphs of each book and sat back. "Well, I'm pretty sure you all know you're in for a very large mission to restore her health, correct?" After seeing all the occupants in the room nod simultaneously, he sat back and sighed. "This means I'll be sending out others to take care of your usual missions, correct?" He still had to ask.

Yusuke made a face. "Of course we'll be doing this before anything else. One, I can't stand seeing her like this; I don't think anyone can. Two, I can tell she hates it, so I want to get her back to normal ASAP. Third…" Yusuke began to shiver as he left off, but his twin picked it up where he left off.

"Mom would kill him and make sure he stayed dead." She grinned over to her brother as he gulped and turned an interesting shape of blue. "And I'm doing this mission for Yusuke; he's my twin, I need him alive."

Koenma smiled and understood why this girl had received the Angel gene: she was always looking for others' well being first. "Well," coughed Koenma, "just to let all of you know there's a second demon tournament on Hanging Neck Island; if I understand correctly, many of the herbs needed for the potion are on the island."

Yusuke nodded. "Who else is going to be fighting on our team?"

"Serena."

A few moments passed in absolute silence, but then, a storm exploded.

"ARE YOU CRAZY YOU STUPID TODDLER?! I'M NOT PUTTING MY SISTER IN DANGER!"

"SERENA CAN'T FIGHT, SHE'S A GIRL AND I DON'T WANNA SEE HER HURT!"

"Koenma, you can't be serious!"

"Yes, we can't let the weak human woman fight. Besides, do any of us know what might happen if we put her in a life-and-death situation as she is? We might be making more trouble."

Koenma nodded. "Yes Hiei, I was thinking about that, but we have no choice. We don't have a fifth fighter; Genkai is busy with something I cannot mention."

"What about finding another demon from the last tournament whose team we destroyed?" Kurama was dead set against not letting Serena come. 'She's too innocent and pure to go to a demon tournament; I'm not letting her go!'

_-Now now, Suiichi, she needs to make the decision herself. We can't keep her sheltered for her whole life, you know? She needs to learn how to defend herself, especially since she's Yusuke's twin. I'm actually surprised no one's come after her yet.-_

Kurama sighed in defeat. 'I know Yoko, but I can't protect her unless the fights aren't all one on one, and you know the possibility of them all being group fights is extremely low.'

The fox sighed in reply. _–I know, but she needs to do this for herself, you know. She can't be treated like an invalid in fights forever.-_

Kurama stole a glance in Serena's direction and frowned when he saw red stains making their way down her face. "I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me, Koenma," said the younger Urameshi twin. "I'd feel horrible if anyone was hurt."

The young ruler nodded. "Serena will need to fight. As it is, the number of team members has gone up from last time. It has gone from four with an extra fighter to eight. The committee was hoping to make the tournament last longer. Three demons will be helping you in your quest, and at least one person in this room will know one of them." The small toddler pressed a button on his desk. "Ok Boton, send them in."

Three demons filed into the room, earning a gasp from a stunned Kurama and Yoko.

Standing in the middle of the group was none other than Kuronue, Yoko's now revived partner.

The bat demon waved to Kurama. "Hey buddy, what's going on?" He sauntered his way over and looked down at Kurama. "I never thought I'd be taller than you, Yoko," he remarked with a quirky grin.

Yoko took over the body and grew a few inches to become level with Kuronue. "It's good to see you, old friend," he said with as calm a voice as he could muster. "I hope you won't be going back for any pendant this time, right?"

Kuronue stood in shock for half a second after Kurama changed from a red haired, green eyed human to the silver hair, gold eyed spirit fox. "Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Kurama."

Yusuke turned his attention from the two reunited friends to the other two demons. He recognized one of them as Jin, the wind apparition from team Masho in the last demon tournament. "Hey Jin, looks like we'll be fighting together this time, huh?"

The wind apparition nodded and smiled. "Yeah, but don't go pullin' crazy stunts, eh? I couldn't handle anymore after our last fight." His Irish accent was apparent as he began to talk and joke with his former opponent.

The last demon was rather quiet with pale blue hair and light green bangs. His icy eyes glanced at each person, remembering them, but stopped when they came to rest on Serena. 'A death demon? No…there's something pure under there…an Angel?' He felt his cheeks turn a brilliant blue (he was an ice demon, they blushed blue) and his blush was almost an electric blue when her eyes met his.

Serena smiled at the ice demon. Her memory quickly came up with a name: Touya. She remembered her brother retelling their time at the first Demon Tournament and about the ice apparition that nearly speared Kurama through. 'This must be Touya then.' She smiled at him gently and looked to the horned red headed demon her brother was talking to.

Yusuke finally glanced back his sister's way and pulled her forward. "Hey Jin, Touya, Kuronue, this is my sister Serena. She's the one who was attacked last night by the reaper demon."

Jin, Touya, and Kuronue all looked at the wrappings covering the girl's arms and the first thought that came to them all was: mummy. She fit the part of an Egyptian princess perfectly all the way from her necklace to her eyeliner that looked like the Egyptians had worn it in the past.

Jin made the first move. "Ah, pleased to meet cha, lassie." He took her hand in his and gave the bandages a light kiss. "Name's Jin in case you don't already know, pleased to meet Yusuke's sister, I am."

He was butt-bumped out of the way by Kuronue. His arms snaked around her hand where Jin's had previously been and he kissed both hands. "My name's Kuronue, a fellow thief like Yoko over there." He threw his head in Yoko's direction and smiled when he spotted his good friend practically turning green.

Touya then appeared by her side and bowed. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Serena," he almost mumbled. He stood and once again blushed when he met her gaze.

Feeling a little on the adventurous and brave side, Serena leaned forward and gave him a hug. Surprisingly, the ice apparition was the same body temperature as she was: cold. Touya felt his eyebrows rise as she hugged him.

Serena ignored the fuming men in the background and turned to Koenma. "Have you briefed them on what's going on? Or do I need to tell my story, Koenma?"

The toddler shook his head. "No, they'll be briefed after some dinner Serena."

She nodded and made her way back to the library.

"Serena?"

She turned to face Koenma. "Yes?" She held onto the doorjamb in between the rooms and laid her head there.

"Don't you want anything?"

Her head shook. "No, I don't eat Koenma. I don't have to." Anger began to cloud her thoughts as she stormed away from the office. 'I just need a cape to make a dramatic exit,' she thought smiling somewhat.

Yusuke turned to glare at the small child on the desk. "You just had to ask that, didn't you Koenma?"

Koenma sputtered before spitting something out. "How was I supposed to know she couldn't eat?!"

"Not a matter of if she can, but if she has to, really," came the quiet reasoning voice of Hiei. "She's kind of like a vampire, only she doesn't need to drink blood in order to live."

The other demons in the room nodded to show they understood. "An interesting woman, that girl," Jin scratched his head as he spoke. "I ate before I got here, so I'll go find her and get to know her a little bit," he dashed out of the room as a small whirlwind appeared around his body.

Yoko glared and was about to follow, but he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. The nearly seven foot Yoko looked down at Serena's brother and sighed.

"Look Yoko, I know you don't want to trust Jin alone with Serena, but she needs to get to know him. My stories about the Dark Tournament aren't going to cut it. She'll eventually have to talk to your friend and Touya too."

Yoko and Kurama knew this, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

--

There you go, another chapter done! Let's hope it won't be so long next time, huh? Read and Review!

MoonFace01


	4. Chapter 4

Holy crap Moonie, finally another update!...well, I dunno if any of y'all are thinkin' that, but it's what I'm thinkin'! Sorry that I haven't been writing; even though it's winter break, sometimes I have trouble staying on one story. I have about another…meh, fifty or so in the works? Only one is even close to making it to the 'publish' pile cuz it's almost done, and I'm not gonna post it 'til it is. Maybe then I'll avoid not posting for months at a time, right?

Anywho, YuYu Hakusho doesn't belong to me, and neither does Serena. The death demon tho I'm pretty sure is my own creation; I've only seen up to the Black Tournament Arc, and have read none of the manga.

And also, I've tried to write in Jin's accent; but I must admit, I do better with Remy's accent from X-Men than Jin's.

SO, without further ado, chapter four of The Angelic Adavism!

Ch 4

Serena sighed as she wandered around the castle. 'Stupid Koenma,' she thought as she kicked an invisible rock. 'It's not like he knew or anything, but still.' Anger suddenly leaving her, she fell to the floor in a heap as she began humming a melody she wrote a while back.

After a few strains went by, she realized she really wanted to find an organ. With that thought firmly in place, she began exploring for the music room.

---

Jin sighed as he looked for the girl. 'Aw c'mon, i' canna be that hard to find a lass,' was his thought as he floated through the hallways. He sniffed the air and found a faint scent of death and roses. 'Kinda a sad combination, but tha's prolly 'er.'

Coming to a stop in front of a large room, he realized he was about to stumble into the music room of the large castle, with a huge organ. Jin was about to dismiss her being in there, that it was just her scent that wafted by, but he heard a sad melody. It sounded mechanical, like it was coming from a locket or something. Jin was about to walk away again when the music blared back to life, the organ booming out a large heartbeat and re-creating the sad tune from the locket. Jumping and floating in the air, he backtracked as a symphony orchestra (or it sounded like it, anyway) joined, as did a choir.

Taking a huge breath for courage, (he just hoped it wasn't the Ruler of Spirit World in there playing his organ) he stepped inside to see the little Urameshi girl playing the harsh heartbeat before once again playing the soft plinkering sound of the locket on the organ.

The music finally died down and the girl sat back on the organ's bench. She was so small and fragile looking there, sitting on the colossal bench before a mammoth organ. Faintly wondering what the Spirit King would think she was doing, he flew up to the girl. "Tha' was a nice bit o' playin' ya did there, lass. Sad and beautiful, jus' like you, I guess."

Serena snapped to attention when she heard a voice compliment her on her playing. She was slightly afraid, but then she recognized the soft Irish lilt of Jin, the wind master. "Hello Jin, thank you."

Floating for a few seconds more, he decided taking a seat would be a better idea. "So, I heard ya did Irish tunes, not 'Phantom of the Opera'," he remarked.

She smiled. "Well, I just got some inspiration all of the sudden, and I had to see how it would play out, you know? But yes, I do Irish songs and tunes above all else." Turning to him and smiling, she felt as if Jin had sought her out to talk to her. "So, you wanted to ask me something I guess?"

Jin felt his lips turn to a smirk as he watched the young girl. "Yeah, I did." Scooting closer to her, he looped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. "Jus' ta warm ya up a bit, aright? Anyway, so, that Yusuke is older, huh?"

"Doesn't always seem like it, does it," the girl asked as she swung her legs back and forth, the ground a good twelve feet away. "I'm younger and smarter, he's older and stronger. That's the way it is. That's why he doesn't want me in the tournament, either. He doesn't think I can handle myself." Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back to the organ and began playing again.

This time, the music was a little faster, and sounded like she wrote it for a creature of great size and cruelty. Jin cocked his head and flicked his ears as he listened. He was once again hearing the beat that resembled a living heart. 'I guess she tends to use tha' rhythm since she really doesn' have a heart o' her own anymore.'

Seconds later, a small group assembled outside the large door. Kuronue walked into the room with a prideful and confident stride, taking his pace from the beat of music the young girl was pounding out. As the music took a short pause, he flew up to the bench and landed with a soft tap behind Jin.

The red-haired demon stuck his tongue out at the taller demon and turned back to Serena. Kuronue glared back, and as soon as Jin's head turned, he returned the razzberry.

Touya glided into the room next, watching in awe of the seemingly emotionless girl played such…angry and bold music. 'I'm only to assume she's a writer then,' he thought as a small layer of ice formed over the floor as he skated along to the bench. An ice ladder formed as the ice demon approached the base of the large stool, and he began to climb. 'Curse those two for having wings or the power to fly,' he thought as he finally crested the top. Sitting down next to Serena, he also heard the distinct rhythm that represented a heartbeat.

The girl turned to Kuronue first and smiled, and turned to Touya, giving him a warm smile as well.

Before she could begin playing again, Yusuke ran into the room, slipping on Touya's ice before giving her some news. "Hey," he said as he slid by, "Koenma said," he slid past her again, "that the reaper demon," slide, "was going to be," slide, "at the dark tournament! Ugh, Touya, melt this ice would you?!" Not paying attention to where he was sliding, Yusuke painfully slammed into the wall.

Everyone winced at the large cracking sound. 'I don't know whether to feel sorry for Yusuke because he slammed into the wall, or to feel sorry for the wall because Yusuke slammed into it.' Settling on a short laugh, she hopped down onto the ice and made her way to her brother. "You ok, brother of mine?" Squatting to her knees, she held out a hand and helped him off the ice and water coated floor.

Slipping a little, Yusuke snorted. "Stop trying to hide your laugh, I know you can't do it." His attitude problem drifted away when he heard her laugh. 'It's been a while since I've heard her laugh,' he thought as he smiled.

The three demons watched in awe as two different people got along so easily. 'Never thought Urameshi could be so sibling-like,' thought Jin as he safely floated over to the duo. "So Urameshi," both twins turned. "Uh, Yusuke, do you have anything else to say? Like elaboratin'?"

Kuronue nodded. "Will the reaper be fighting in a team? If he is, we only have six months to come up with the sword of light, and that also means your sister is gonna have to be the one to kill the demon, right?" Kuronue tugged on his hat to move it out of his eyes so he could see the brother's reaction.

Yusuke made a pouty face before sighing. "I _know_, but it doesn't mean I gotta like it, or that I'm not gonna not be lookin' after her." 'I have a feeling though, she'll be plenty protected what with all the demons with crushes on her.' A growl made its way from Yusuke's throat at the thought.

Serena pat her brother's shoulder and slightly bowed to them all. "Well, I'm going to head outside; it's a little warm in here." Waving once, she gracefully slid across the ice and headed to the door.

As soon as she was gone, Yusuke turned to the three demons in the room, glaring. They all backed away; even Kuronue was a little nervous around the brother of the girl who interested him like no other. "If one of you so much as looks at her in the wrong way, you'll be saying hello to Boton." He ominously cracked his knuckles and punched the wall before leaving.

"Yikes, that Urameshi's a crazy one, he is," quipped the air demon, receiving nods from the other two.

---

As Serena stepped outside, she wondered if the tournament would be one on one fights. If it was, this was going to be a long one. 'It already lasts over a few days with just four members to a team…why would they want it to be longer? And how much time do we have until it starts?'

Since the reaper demon would be there, she would need the sword of light to slay him, so they had to find it before then. She silently hoped there would be plentiful leads on the sword's location; they didn't have much time to find it.

Spotting a bench, she sat down on it, slightly shivering when it proved to be colder than she was. 'Not many things are colder than me…except Touya.' The ice demon was shy and quiet, but she knew he could perform well in a fight.

As her mind drifted to the Dark Tournament, she realized something. She didn't know how to fight. 'Might need to know that,' she thought sarcastically. "Really, a demon in a fighting tournament not knowing how to fight? Stupid."

She would need to know how to fight with a sword, that was for sure…but what if they didn't find it in time? Not letting her thoughts wander in that direction, she wondered if anyone knew how to handle a sword.

Properly.

Kuwabara didn't count.

And her brother would throw a fit if she was learning from the orange haired boy.

If Kuwabara would teach her in the first place. He strongly believed girls shouldn't fight; which is strange, considering his sister Shizuru did. Maybe his older sister didn't count.

Then again, Hiei used a sword, quite well in fact. "But Hiei teaching me? Get real, Serena." She was just a weak human to him; why should he teach her how to use his weapon of choice?

But he was her only other option. Gin used wind-based attacks, Kurama used whips and plants, Touya controlled ice, and Kuronue used scythes. Hiei was deadly with a sword, so learning from him was her best bet for staying alive during the tournament.

So, gathering her courage, she made her way back into the building. But when she imagined Hiei's icy stare and bland response, she turned back around. "I'll ask him tomorrow."

"Ask who what tomorrow?"

Serena let out a yelp as Hiei's voice travelled down to her from a tree. Reflexively bringing a hand to her heart, she glared at him, forcing herself to exhale. "Hiei! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Letting himself fall gracefully out of the tree, he sat next down on the bench she was occupying earlier. "So who are you going to ask?"

Taking a seat on the far side of the bench, she started thinking. 'Did he hear me talking to myself?' Laying another glare on him, she asked, "How long were you there?"

The short kroomie actually had the grace to blush. "Just now." Wiping the blush from his face, he glared back, his being a lot more effective than hers. "I won't ask again."

Mentally telling herself she would need to get used to this, she placed her hand on her forehead. If she were alive, she would have one heck of a headache right now. "I need to know how to use a sword in the tournament, and you're the only one that--"

"No."

The explanation died from her lips as she looked at him in shock. "What?! You didn't even let me--"

"No."

"HIEI! Let me finish! I need to know how to use a sword, and you know how and are really good at it and--"

"No."

His short answers were really starting to tick her off. She was about to start yelling again when a brilliant idea came to her. Smirking, she realized she would have to get him to agree by practically insulting him. "Fine then, I'll just have to learn from Kuwabara."

She barely got the words out of her mouth when she felt his aura begin to swirl around him. "_You_ learn proper technique from that_ monkey_? If you really want to learn how to use a sword for what it was made for, meet me out here at dawn." Tossing a harsh glare her way that made her shiver, he leapt back up into the trees.

When she felt his dark aura fade, she let out a relieved squeak. "Note to self: don't ever get Hiei mad ever again under any circumstances!" She wiped imaginary sweat from her brow as she made her way back to Koenma's office.

She had a bomb to drop.

---

It was the yell heard around the Spirit World.

"YOU WHAT?!?!"

Serena winced as her brother's yelling made her ponytail and clothing fly back. As it died down, she tucked some lose hair behind her ear. "Seriously Yusuke, how else and I supposed to do this? Do you want me learning from Kuwabara?"

"Good Gods, no!" Yusuke cried, making Kuwabara shout out in protest. Not giving the monkey any mind, he continued, "But why Hiei? Why not Kurama or someone?"

'I really _did_ get all the brains in the family,' Serena thought with a roll of her eyes. "Because, Kurama can't use a sword, he uses whips. Is it called the Whip of Light? _No_, it's called the _Sword_ of Light, and I need to learn how to use one."

Kurama bristled slightly as Serena announced to the world he didn't know how to use a sword. It was true, but the way she said it made him feel useless. As if she sensed his feelings, she turned to him, "No offense, Kurama. I'd rather it was a whip or something than a sword, much more graceful."

That made him blush, and it only got deeper when Yoko started laughing in his mind. 'Shut up.'

"You know I have to, Yusuke. Would you rather it be someone you know, or someone you don't know? You've seen Hiei fight; you _know_ he's a Master, self-proclaimed or otherwise. Whomever I'll be learning from will essentially be keeping me alive during the tournament. Who better than Hiei?"

Yusuke crossed his arms and leaned against Koenma's desk, making the toddler yelp at him. Dismissing the ruler of the Spirit World with a wave of his hand, he shook his head. "Still don't mean I like it."

That was the best 'permission' she would get, this she knew. Bouncing over to him, she gave him a hug, "Thank you!" She felt her brother smile as she pulled away, making her way to her sleeping quarters.

"Oi sis, where ya goin'?"

"Going to meditate for tomorrow morning. Instead of needing sleep, I need to clear my thoughts at night." Waving at the small group in the office, she disappeared.

Kurama noted the deep scowl on Yusuke's face. "I know you don't like it any more than I do, maybe more so, but Hiei is her best chance at survival. We all want that."

Yusuke continued to pout, glaring daggers up at the ceiling. "I know, but why did it have to be Hiei? He's going to be really tough on her, and you know how sensitive she is."

The red head had to agree. "I know, but she needs to be pushed, Yusuke. Hiei can't go easy on her because her opponent won't."

Letting out a sigh, Yusuke knew Kurama was right. His sister was so soft and innocent, and it worried him that she might be losing those qualities by learning from Hiei. Then again, she would need to lose those characteristics to make her less vulnerable in the tournament.

Either way, Serena was going to have a tough time learning from Hiei. "The tournament begins in a little over six months. That's not long to find the sword or for her to learn to use it."

"Serena will have to learn from Hiei as you look for the sword," Koenma murmured as he glanced over the papers detailing the tournament. "You all will be very pressed for time on this journey, so I suggest you begin researching tomorrow morning as Serena goes out for her lessons."

As the group made their way to their own quarters, Yusuke muttered, "Yay, more reading."

---

The annoying buzz of her alarm clock snapped Serena back to attention from her meditating. Rubbing at her bleary eyes, she glanced out the window, noting in glee the sun hadn't risen yet. She planned to be early for all her lessons with Hiei. Stretching, she decided to head out to the tree where she and Hiei spoke last night.

The air was clear and slightly chilly as Serena walked outside in fresh bandages, but instead of wearing her usual Egyptian-like attire, she went with a fighting gi Kurama had given her last year for her birthday. It was similar to the one he had worn in the Dark Tournament the last time they had competed, with the exception of the colors. Where Kurama's gi was yellow, hers was a deep forest green.

Pulling her hair into a high ponytail, she started warming up by performing some of the limited Tai Chi moves she knew. She was so engrossed in her routine that she didn't even notice Hiei perch himself in the tree, silently watching her.

His red eyes blinked as he watched her graceful movements. 'She has grace, I'll give her that, but she'll need much more than that.' Pulling his sword from its sheath at his waist, he sprung from the tree.

Serena's graceful movements turned into a shaky block as she felt the air displace as Hiei swooped down from the trees. The sword cut into her hand as she barely caught it, and she sent a pale glare in his direction. "You're lucky I really don't bleed Hiei; Yusuke would kill you if you hurt me."

"I'm not worried about your brother right now, I'm just worried that a human onna like yourself won't last five minutes under my instruction." He watched her eyes narrow and almost let a smirk grace his features. Pulling the sword form her hand, he ignored her hiss of pain as he tossed her a spare one from his waist.

Using her left hand, she caught the blade easily and surveyed the damage done to her right hand, the one she had used to catch the blade. It was only a narrow welt, much to her surprise, and she switched the sword from her left to her right, testing the weight. "You've given me a heavy sword, Hiei. It's almost too heavy to lift with one hand."

The kroomie shrugged and fell into a relaxed stance. "I did that on purpose, woman. We don't know how much the Sword of Light will weigh, and if it happens to be lighter, your movements will be all the faster with the lighter weight." His stance shifted again, and once more with no warning, he leapt at her, noting in slight amazement that her block was almost correct. "Lift it higher," he commanded before coming at her again.

She blocked perfectly this time before grunting in effort to push Hiei away from her.

---

Hiei sheathed his sword after three hours had passed. "That's enough for today," he explained before walking away.

"What," Serena taunted, "are you tired?"

He turned to glare at her, "No, but if I train you much longer, your brother will start yelling, and we all know how annoying he is in the morning." With one last glare, he leapt away into the trees.

She couldn't disagree with his logic she decided as she peered at the sword he'd given her. What should she do with it?

Under a random tree, she found a scabbard for it with a strap of leather attached to it. Picking it up, she found that it belonged to the sword. After adjusting the strap, she placed it on her back, wincing at the slight weight. "Well, I think I need to get used to it," she muttered. Secretly, she was hoping the Sword of Light was…well, light. Letting another sigh escape her, she made her way to the dining room. Hopefully people were just finishing with breakfast.

---

Kurama eyed Hiei as he walked into the room, a light sheen of sweat shining on his face. 'How did training go, Hiei?'

Hiei looked up at the kitsune, eyes giving nothing away. 'She did well for her first day, Kurama.' He sat down and ignored the glare Yusuke tossed his way. 'Tough she still has a ways to go.'

The boys outside the telepathic conversation glanced at each other and then to Hiei. "So shorty," started Kuwabara, "I hope you didn't hurt Serena, else I'll have to hurt you!" The waffle that was on his plate was cut into tiny pieces as the teen lost his temper, then was turned to mush at the kroomie ignored him. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you!"

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Calm down Kuwabara." Suddenly, his calm demeanor disappeared, "You weren't too hard on her, were you?" His brown eyes glared daggers at his fellow Spirit Detective. "I'll blast you to oblivion and back if she's even got a hair out of place."

"I'd like to see you try," was the reply from the shortest member of the team, making Yusuke explode.

"That's my little sister you're talking about!"

The fight came to an abrupt end as the door slammed open, Serena stalking in, her hair and clothing flying. The other demons not involved in the tiff blushed and looked away; Yusuke would not be kind if he caught them staring. "Don't blow a gasket, Yusuke. You don't have that many to spare up there, you know," she sarcastically scolded, tapping her forehead.

Yusuke's eyes ran over his sister's form, eyes narrowing on the small welt on her right hand. "Serena, what's that?"

Kurama had also spotted the small wound on her dominant hand. 'What did you do, Hiei?'

"It's fine," Serena replied as she sat down in an empty chair, moving her sword from her back to her side. She crossed her arms and legs, fixing a small glare on her brother. "Besides, I've gotten worse than this cooking. Remember that time I almost sliced my finger off?"

Jin sniggered as Serena lifted the middle finger on her right hand, even if he could tell that the story was true. "Nice one, Serena," he laughed in his customary accent. "I think she's got ya, Urameshi!"

Yusuke just crossed his arms and pouted in reply. "Whatever."

Koenma cleared his throat. "I think you should begin your quest today, Yusuke, if you intend on finding that sword any time soon. Did you find any information on its location?"

Forcing himself to calm down, Yusuke shrugged. "No, just some things about it. Your books didn't cover it a whole lot; makes me think it's a pretty old weapon."

"I'll go look for more information on it then," Serena murmured as she stood, strapping the sword to her back before heading for the door. "Kurama, do you think you'd be able to help me?"

Kurama nodded, "Yes, two heads are better than one, after all." He folded his napkin and set it on her breakfast plate before following after her, receiving glares to the back of his head from Jin, Touya, and Kuronue.

-That's right,- thought Yoko, -WE'RE going with her, not you!-

'Enough Yoko,' Kurama reprimanded as he followed the Egyptian clad woman to the library. 'We'll be working in case you haven't forgotten.' Coming back to himself, he saw Serena looking at him intently. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said," she repeated, smiling, "That you might want to start where you left off yesterday, in that section of the library." She pointed to the left wing as she walked off to the right. "There's a lead over here, so that's where I'll be starting."

"All right, I'll call you if I find anything," Kurama replied as he started off to the familiar ladder. Brining his legs underneath him, he sprung upward and easily reached where he'd left off the other day. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Serena looking at him, smiling before she began climbing a ladder.

-You know,- said Yoko and Kurama reached for a book to leaf through it, -she needs to learn how to jump big distances and other things…like hand to hand combat.-

'Her brother's better at that, Yoko,' Kurama absently replied as he started scanning a random page.

The kitsune spluttered rather ungracefully before he stuttered a response, -Well, we're more graceful, and faster! I think we need to teach her that!-

Kurama blinked and tore his eyes away from the page, considering what Yoko had said. 'I suppose that's true,' he replied before shrugging and going back to work. 'It wouldn't do for her to have a random klutz attack as she is prone to do and find herself right in the line of fire.'

-Now you see it my way,- Yoko replied, rather smug.

The red head laughed, 'I suppose so.'

---

Serena smiled as she saw Kurama jump up the four stories to reach where he'd left off the day before, groaning as she looked to where _she_ had been the day before…a full six stories up. 'Ugh, I hate not being able to fly or jump extremely high.' Letting out another sigh, she started her long ascent.

About five minutes later, she turned her body and sat on a rung, sword now around her waist, reaching out for the book the last one had referenced to. Turning to the correct page, she began to read.

Half an hour later, Serena let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes. 'I give up,' she thought as she put her glasses on her face. Reaching out, she pushed at the bookshelf, happy that Koenma's ladders were affixed to the wall on wheels. Seconds later, she was in another section of the library, hand outstretched for her seventh book. Placing it in her lap, she turned to page 1,476 and began reading.

'_Location of the Sword of Light,'_ she read. "Well sheesh, it's about time," she grumbled under her breath.

_The location of the Sword of Light is in the Hakeshi Mountain range in the southern hemisphere of Demon World. The demons native to this area include but are not limited to, scorpion, vulture, and coyote demons. _

'Hm well, I wonder why it's location is known…' It was entirely possible for the sword to be gone already, or maybe it was such a hazardous place, it didn't matter that the sword's location was known if no one could get to it. Here she was expecting to be given a riddle or something equally frustrating.

Tucking the book back under her arm, she looked down over the side of the ladder. She was now a grand total of nine stories up, and she needed to get to an atlas. But ugh, she was so tired from the journey up, she didn't know if she'd be able to get down. 'I wish I had wings,' she thought absently, before a pricking sensation ran down her spine. Sitting up straight, she was totally unprepared for what happened next.

One moment she was sitting on the ladder, an ominous feeling traveling down her back, the next, she was falling to the ground at an alarming rate. Letting out a shriek, she fell feet first, quite surprised when her shoulders blades were yanked upward, falling much slower, sighing in relief. Looking up and over her back, her eyes went wide when they caught sight of what slowed her fall.

There were wings coming from her back, but not the kind she expected to see. When she thought of angel wings, they were white, pristine, perfect. The ones sprouting from her back were grey and withered, and it was quite an effort to keep herself up. Seconds later, they gave out, and she was still about four stories from the ground.

She did the only thing she could.

"KURAMA!"

---

DUNDUNDUN! Mk, the next chapter is in the works people, so don't worry! I'm gonna try to get it posted ASAP. I'm not taking as many art classes next semester, much to the frustration of my mother (sweatdrop), so we should be ok!

O, I don't know if I told you guys this, but a reader asked about the telepathic ability between Hiei and Kurama, a reader by the same of Eternalmoonprincess. I've posted it in my profile, but for those of you who don't look at author profiles (like me, lol), I don't know if it's a fanfiction trend or if it's 'real'. It's just like Yoko and Kurama talking like two separate beings, maybe. I'm still not sure how that works, but it's what I've seen, so I use it.

Anyway, until next time guys!

-MoonFace01


	5. Chapter 5

AAAAAAA-mazing! Another chapter so soon; aren't you guys proud of me?!

…lol, well, I actually had half of this written when I posted chapter four, and now the end of this chapter is the last I have. I start school up in another week or so, so I'll try to get as much done as I can, but no promises. I may only have one art class next semester, but it involves sewing, of which I suck at.

In any case, here's chapter 5!

I don't own Yuyu Hakusho or Serena, they belong to their respective creators!

Ah, and real quick, lemme say this now: apologies if the fight scene is kinda…wimpy (it's not even REALLY a fight but I'd like to warn anyway). They're not really my thing, but I try!

---

Chapter 5

Kurama's head shot up from reading his book when he heard Serena's short scream, but shrugged when it turned into a sigh of relief. A few seconds later, he heard her scream his name. Blood running cold, he let the book fall to the floor, sliding down his ladder before taking off to where he heard her screams.

Shoes screeching on the marble floor, he looked up in shock and slight awe. Feathers were trailing Serena as she fell. Shaking himself from his stupor, he rushed to catch her, wincing slightly when he caught her awkwardly. "Serena, are you ok?"

Her blue eyes blinked open as he set her down on the floor, kneeling when she didn't reply right away. As she recovered, he looked to her back, mouth dropping open when he noticed her grey wings. "Serena?" he asked softly, reaching out and touching the feathers, wincing when they were rough to the touch, but in awe all the same.

Shakily, she looked over her shoulder at the massive wings that spread from her back. "Oh my," she breathed before turning back to him. "I don't know what happened," she muttered, clearly dazed, "I was thinking how easy it would be to fly down instead of climb the ladder, and the next thing I know, I'm shoved off of it."

"So, you didn't feel them at all?" He looked at her back, noting the area around her wings wasn't bloody at all; they looked natural, as if they'd been there her whole life. "Amazing," he whispered. Then, "Well, you ARE an angel after all; I don't know why we didn't think about the possibility of wings sooner."

Serena nodded against his chest before pulling away. "Come on," she whispered, "I've got the sword's location; I just need to find a map of demon world to find the Hakeshi Mountains."

Kurama stopped. "The Hakeshi Mountains, Serena? The sword is there? Are you positive?" Even Yoko had tensed at the name of the mountain range. The terrain was just as dangerous as the demons who lived there. His heart dropped to his feet when she nodded. "Yes, that's what this book says." Amazingly, she'd been able to hold onto it during her fall.

Kurama took it from her, reading where her finger pointed to. She was right. Spirits above, did it have to be Hakeshi? "The others won't be pleased when they hear where the sword is being kept."

Her brows knit in confusion, "There must be something I don't know about this place that has you so worked up."

"Yes," he replied. "No need for a map, Kuronue and I know exactly where the mountains are, as does every other demon here, I'm sure."

Serena nodded and stood, awkwardly folding her wings behind her as she did so. The new weight on her back caused her to tip backwards slightly, arms pin-wheeling as she tried to adjust to the strange sensation of something attached to her back. "This is going to take some getting used to."

He took her by her elbow and started to walk her out of the library back to the main room. "Do you think you'll have to walk around with those all the time or?"

She shrugged, "I have no idea," she replied. "I don't even know how they got there. I guess they're staying until I can figure that out."

---

Yusuke was about to start his favorite pass time- yelling at Kuwabara- when Serena and Kurama stepped into the room. He didn't notice the wings on her back at first, but when he did-

"THE HELL ARE THOSE?!"

The others looked up from what they were currently doing when they saw Serena walking in with wings on her back. Jin and Kurogane smiled as they thought about teaching her how to fly. Hiei merely grunted from his corner of the room, unwilling to think about how pretty she looked with the new additions. Kuwabara went red as he twiddled his thumbs, Touya rolling his eyes and hiding his blush a little better than the less intelligent boy.

She gave her brother a flat look, not noticing the attention she was getting from the others. "What do you think," she deadpanned, "they're _wings_." Walking over to him, she slammed the book on the table, pointing to the name of the mountain range. "Ever heard of them, Yusuke?"

Her brother's brown eyes scanned the page, "I heard something about them from Genkai a while back, she wanted to take me there for training or something insane like that." He slid the book over to Jin, who was sitting beside him. "Heard it's a nasty place."

Jin winced, nodding, recovering from his earlier shock. "Yeah, not even a demon like myself would e'er go there. The place ain't even safe enough to fly o'er; vulture demons are crazy."

"I've never been there myself, but I've heard stories of how bad the area is," Kuronue murmured, eyeing Serena as he spun one of his scythes idly, the whistling grating on Yoko's ears. Kurama growled lightly, and his partner stopped. "Sorry, I forgot how much that bugs you," he grinned. Kurama had the impression his friend wasn't so sorry.

"So," said Koenma loudly, getting their attention, "I can't get you a portal directly to the Hakeshi Mountains for two reasons: one, we don't know what could come through our end of the portal, and two: there's too much dark spirit energy." The small group graoned as Koenma continued, "So it'll be a four day journey to the Mountains themselves, and the climb to the peak will be another matter entirely."

Touya spoke up next, "The demons there aren't like us, they're not intelligent. They're like animals, dangerous ones."

Kuwabara's eyes were wide when the toughest demons he knew all agreed this place was not one to be taken lightly. He reached out and hugged Serena tightly to himself like a teddy bear, shaking.

She squeaked as he latched on to her, trying to struggle free. "Kuwabara, you big wimp, let me go!" Using her wings, she pressed them against her captor, straining to free herself.

The boy yelped as the rough feathers grated against his skin, leaving small scratches when he finally let go of her. "Ah, what the heck?" Looking at the feathers, his eyes narrowed. "The feathers are kinda rough."

Pulling her wings in front of her, she grabbed a feather and yanked, hissing at the unexpected pain. Running it along her finger, she discovered it was quite sharp. "Strange," she murmured as she twirled the feather in her finger.

"I bet you could put some spirit energy through that and get a knife of some kind," said Kuronue as he leaned over her shoulder, examining it with a critical eye. The bat demon smirked when he felt more than a few pairs of eyes on his backside, and he knew none of them were admiring his derrière, either.

Kurama growled, feeling Yoko trying to push himself to the surface as his normally calm and easygoing green eyes turned an angry amber-gold. –If he gets any closer,- threatened Yoko.

'Yes, yes, fox, we know you're jealous.' Hiei smirked from across the room as he observed the small group.

Yusuke wasn't happy either. His spiritual energy was swirling angrily around him as he glared at the back of Kuronue's head. Lifting his hand, he clenched it into his famous Spirit Gun, letting a small ball of power gather at the tip of his pointer finger.

Serena saw the flash of power out of the corner of her eye, and she pushed gently at Kuronue. "Yusuke, stop that. But I bet I could; that would be cool. I would never be without a weapon."

Koenma felt his temper rise. "Detectives!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "You need to get started on this mission, now! The longer you wait the more difficult this will get! You need all the time you can get because of the location of the Sword!"

"He's right," Boton explained as she came into the room. "Even if the mountain range is only a few days of walking away, fighting the demons to get to the peak is not going to be an easy task." She placed some paperwork on the desk of the toddler ruler and walked back out.

"Gather your supplies, detectives; you'll be setting out early tomorrow."

---

Serena stepped out of the portal, squinting at the sudden brightness of the sun. Raising her hand to cover her eyes, she wished she didn't have to wear her bandages, but she didn't know what would happen if she were to go out in direct sunlight. She was suddenly glad Touya hadn't come along, it was too hot for him.

"Ugh, why did I have to wear black?"

She turned to see Kuronue stumble out of the portal next, already taking his hat off to fan himself. "Why does it have to be in the middle of the desert? Trees should be around mountains, not sand!"

Jin, who had come out before her, smiled impishly as a small whirlwind appeared in front of his face, blowing a steady breeze over his sweaty face. Serena had to admit, his one fanged smile looked kinda cute.

Yusuke sighed, "Well, let's get started, then."

The dunes went on for miles, as far as the eye could see. Serena let out a long breath in frustration. "Seriously?" She wished her wings were in better condition so she could fly next to Jin, get some wind in her face.

Her thought was cut short when a dry wind came right at them, blowing sand into their mouths and eyes. 'Ugh, never mind.' She spat the sand from her mouth, frowning in disgust when her teeth crunched together.

"Tasty, eh?" Jin joked from up above, catching the look on her face.

"Can it," Yusuke shouted from the front of the group, not in the mood.

"What crawled up your butt and died?"

The small group tried to hold back their laughter, but couldn't hold it in. It had been Hiei to crack the joke, after all.

"Hahaha," Yusuke replied, rolling his eyes.

From a little bit further behind, Kurama just observed. This band of demons might just end up fighting each other instead of the others at the tournament. Or even the ones in the mountain range and the desert.

An ear-splitting roar came from the next dune ahead. 'Speaking of.'

Serena's head shot to the right, "What was that?"

"Snake demon most likely," Hiei flatly replied as his sword sang as he removed it from its sheath, eyes narrowing.

Her hand strayed to the hilt of her own sword and fingered it nervously. Then she saw a grey feather shed from her back and grabbed it. Glancing at it, she narrowed her eyes, willing some of her tainted spirit energy into the feather, smiling when it hardened. Lifting her hand, she waited for the scaly wonder to crest the top of the dune.

No one expected it to come right through the mountain of sand.

They all leapt backwards as it flew forward, jaws open and lunging for the nearest body, which happened to be Serena. Pulling her arm back, she threw the small feather-dagger at the snake, hitting it in its eye.

The large, brown creature reared back and started to thrash, hitting the group and scattering them and tossing sand everywhere.

Serena sputtered and spat sand from her mouth, tearing her eyes up to get the small irritating grains out of her eyes and looking around for the demon. "Guys, where are you?"

"I'm over here!" Her brother stood up not too far away. "Everyone ok?"

Varying shouts of reply sounded through the air as the sand cloud cleared, no snake in sight. "Where'd it go? It was nine feet long; it couldn't have disappeared that fast."

"We probably scared it off," crowed Kuwabara, standing tall and proud, puffing his chest out.

"No, I hurt it, it'll still be out there, and now it'll be angry to boot." Serena glanced around the sand, trying to listen for any sort of movement but sighed when her human ears just picked up the whistling of the wind. "Jin, Kuronue, do you guys hear anything?"

The pointy eared demons closed their eyes and listened. Jin's eyes were the first to shoot open in alarm, "Right behind you, Serena!"

She barely had time to dodge before another sand dune exploded, revealing the bloodied snake demon along with another, much bigger snake. This one was about fifteen feet in length, and more of its body still resided in the dune. Pulling a fistful of feathers from her wings, she held four in each hand before flinging them outward, giving an unintentional signal to charge.

Hiei disappeared as he shot up to the demon's head, about to slice it off when it opened its mouth and shot something out of it's mouth. The small kroomie dodged midair, but not without the vile liquid splattering on his cloak. He let it fall to the ground in disgust, glaring at the thing that dare soil his clothing.

"Great, it's a spitting cobra!" Serena shouted, hoping everyone had read up on their biology assignment from last week. The questioning glance from Kuwabara made her sigh in frustration. "It spits poison and can blind you if it gets you in your eyes, so look out!"

The orange haired boy went pale before summoning his spirit sword forward, intent on trying Hiei's tactic: rushing it. However, the result was the same: the viper opened its massive jaws and spat a mouthful of poison at Kuwabara's face.

Jin swooped down from the air, blasting the poison away with a mini-tornado from his fists. "A'right guys, we need a plan and fast!"

Serena jumped over the tail of the smaller demon who had a score to settle with her. 'It must be too young to spit yet,' she thought as it rushed at her, mouth open but no venom spraying from its fangs. It must want to bite her then, which would be fatal…

…if she were alive.

Ducking, she tossed more feathers at the juvenile snake as the rest of the team fought the much larger mother. There had to be a faster way to get rid of them both. Looking down at her hands, she wondered what blasting her darkened spirit energy through her hands might do. She heard a cry from her brother, which snapped her back to the present. "Get out of the way!"

The detectives and demons heard her yell, and looked at her hands, which were glowing a dark purple, almost black color. They all jumped or flew to safety just before the dark light exploded from her wrapped fingers.

Sand flew around her as the dark energy shot from her hands, blowing her hair from her face, her clothes whipping around her. Her spirit energy grew to encompass he snakes, both shrieking horribly before the sound abruptly stopped. As the darkness ebbed from the area, nothing was left of the snakes.

Kurama surveyed the damage, just as shocked as everyone else was. 'And here we thought her wings might be the end of her secrets,' he mused. The sand around the snakes wasn't darkened with blood or excess dark energy, it only looked as if there had been a massive sandstorm.

Yusuke's jaw dropped as he also took in the battlefield. How could his little sister do this? It was insane! Walking over to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to cease her shaking. "Serena? You ok?"

The shaking of her body only increased, "Yusuke, what happened?"

"I don't know," her twin brother replied. "Why don't you tell me?" He watched her as she closed her open mouth with a click, looking down at her hands. "I just knew you guys were in trouble, and then, BAM!" She clenched her shaking hands. "How did that happen? I just incinerated those horribly powerful demons by myself!"

Kurama was the next to walk over to her to offer comfort. Taking her in his arms the best he could with her wings, he stroked her hair as he whispered into her ear. "It's ok Serena, no one was hurt."

"This time maybe," she replied angrily. "But what if next time I can't control it?"

Hiei came forward next, his expression blank as usual. "It's a good thing we're your allies then, isn't it Urameshi?"

Serena smiled softly at Hiei's attempt at a comforting gesture. It was a step in the right direction for him. "I suppose," she replied, taking a deep breath and squeezing Kurama before she stepped back, grinning. "Well, lets keep going then I guess."

Kuronue walked beside her, "You sure you up to it after that blast?"

She shrugged as the small party trudged onward. "I don't feel tired." She really didn't think she could feel tired, after all, she was dead.

"An' you were perfectly in control," Jin called from his position flying above them. "I didn' see any glowin' eyes from up here."

The group shared a laugh before journeying onward, the sun high in the sky.

---

Hours later, they stopped at nightfall.

"You know, we're probably going about this all wrong," Serena muttered as she put up her tent.

"Oh? And why's that, sis?" Yusuke stood next to her, his tent lopsided, but up none the less.

"Yes, I'm eager to hear this as well." Kurama stood next to a perfect tent, making Kuwabara growl angrily. His tent was lopsided and had been blown over more than once. Another strong gust whipped by, toppling it again.

"Well, I mean, the desert is almost freezing at night due to the lack of sun on the sand right? Then we should probably get our rest during the day and walk at night when it's cooler, right?"

Kurama shrugged. It seemed like a good idea, but, "We'll probably be sitting ducks in the middle of the day, don't you figure?"

"Wouldn't there be less demonic activity after dark though?" Kuronue took his hat off as he fanned himself with it.

"I would think there'd be more," Jin said as he joined their conversation. "There's less heat after the sun's gone down, doncha figure?"

Kuwabara blinked before deciding to put his own two bits in. "But there's less light at night."

Hiei growled from his position by the small fire they'd managed to start. "Nocturnal animals are made for seeing in the dark you idiot." Kuwabara came right up into Hiei's face, but before a fight could erupt, a shriek sounded from in the air.

A huge owl demon flew overhead, making a dive for the member of the group that resembled the size of a large demon mouse: Yusuke.

The punk let out a frustrated growl before letting lose a Spirit Gun that enveloped the entire demon. Seconds later, the carcass fell to the ground with a disgusting thump, causing Serena, the one who was closest to it, to shriek and jump out of the way into Kurama's arms.

Kurama turned a bright shade a red that thankfully went unseen in the darkness of the night. He held on to her bridal style as she clung to his neck, shaking. He was tempted to bury his nose in her hair but held himself back; no need to create an awkward situation when there already was one.

"Case in point," he muttered, turning to a cowed Kuwabara, who was trying to hide under his fallen tent.

"But hey," spoke the tent, "I thought these demons were supposed to be powerful."

Serena detangled herself from Kurama, giving him a soft smile before turning to Kuwabara's talking tent. "Well, no one messes with my brother when he's pissed off. You've seen him when he's angry haven't you, Kuwabara?"

"And no one messes with me when my little sister's concerned." Yusuke strode over to the carcass of the owl before kicking at it. "Now how do we get rid of this?"

Serena cocked an eyebrow at her brother. "Yeah, and what're you gonna do? Eat it?

Famous last words.

About a half hour later, the owl finished cooking on the spit. "I can't believe you guys are eating that!" Serena watched in only slight amusement as Jin lifted a drumstick the size of his leg to his mouth before taking a bite of it. "What?" he asked as he caught her stare.

"Nothing." She eyed Kuwabara who tried to fight Jin for the other drumstick and failed. Not that it bothered him though, because he was munching happily on a wing. Well, about a third of one anyway.

She was suddenly glad she didn't have to eat.

Hiei was already done, eyeing the others as he rolled his eyes. He was becoming bored. "Serena, grab your sword." Without another word, he walked some distance away before stopping, his sword at the ready.

This was going to be a long training session.

----------

End of chapter 5! Woohoo! Reviews are appreciated, and I want to thank everyone who's been reviewing; it makes me glad to know people are reading and liking my stuff! SO if you liked it, review please!

Also, the word Hakeshi doesn't really exist. I mean, 'hake' means paintbrush and 'shi' means death, but I didn't just squish them together, haha! Then they'd be on the Paintbrush of Death Mountains! It was only until I asked my Japanese-speaking friend that I learned that, it was totally unintentional. I just made the word up and it sounds cool, right? Lol.

Until next time!

-MoonFace01


	6. Chapter 6

Hey all, MoonFace here, with chapter 6 of The Angelic Adavism! Thing is, I'm starting to get a little un-inspired in this fic, so I might be putting it on hold until the Muse for it comes back, and I'll do everything in my power to finish it, cuz I get really sad when author's can't or don't finish their amazing fics. Good thing is, I have all summer to get it back, and I'll definitely be watching episodes and doing whatever I can to find the Muse again! If you read my profile page, you'll see that I'm on an X-Men fix as of this moment, and I might put one of those chapters out here, just to see what everyone thinks (but it'd be a crossover…have you come to expect anything else from me? Lol).

Thanks to my beta, b/c without her, my stories would be full of those little grammatical errors I find so annoying!

As always, YuYu Hakusho doesn't belong to me, and neither does Sailor Moon, they belong to their respective creators, as well as Vlad the vulture (I'm making a reference to Whorton Hears a Who, very funny movie), belonging to whoever created him.

But anyway, thank you for all the comments and support, and here's the next chapter!

Ah, and FYI, this fic was originally going to be a Kurama/Serena pairing, but now I'm not so sure, so we'll see, won't we?

---

Chapter 6

---

Serena sighed as Hiei stood in front of her, his sword grating against the sheath as he drew it slowly. She didn't know whether he was being sarcastic or he was deciding to slow it down today.

Hiei's speed was incredible; sometimes he would just be a breeze. And that's where the problem was: he was too fast. She could barely block him when he was moving at her speed, but when he even notched it up the slightest bit, she would miss. "You gonna slow it down?"

"Tch. You wish. You need to learn to block me at this speed." Saying so, he flickered out of existence before reappearing before her, his sword slashing downward, resting on her jugular to make his point. "If you can block that, you can block anything."

"Don't be so egotistic, Hiei," she deadpanned as she pushed the sword away from her face. "Surely you can't be the fastest demon alive."

His usually stoic face turned into a sneer. "I'm surely the fastest demon you've ever encountered and we'll have to make do with that right now." He zipped away, leaving Serena slightly on edge.

Looking around her, she listened for any rustle of fabric or displacement of sand for any hint Hiei was close. After a moment, she closed her eyes; she couldn't see very well in the dark anyway.

There!

She lifted her sword in front of herself, it slanting to the left as Hiei's sword made contact with it. Her arms strained to keep the sword from her face and was quite surprised when Hiei's nose almost touched hers.

"Come now Serena, push me away," he growled as he pressed more of his weight on their interlocked swords. He was starting to like the way her eyes shone in anger and determination as she strained to push him off of her. Narrowing his eyes, he decided to try something.

Serena's concentration was waning. After all, Hiei was close enough to kiss her and still getting closer as he applied more arm strength. A warm breath of air from Hiei passing over her lips made what remaining concentration she had left snap. Her legs gave out and she fell back eyes wide with surprise when the kroomie fell on top of her.

Hiei's full weight only pressed down on her for a second before he was up again, pointing both swords at her throat. He stared at her for a second before dropping her sword and shooting away. Serena could have sworn Hiei was blushing, but…nah.

---

It was the second day of the little journey, and they were walking in daylight again. Everyone figured it would be better to travel during the day, because then at least everyone would be able to see any approaching danger; it was less of a liability.

Jin lead the way, slightly ahead as he scouted the beige ocean of sand. Raising a hand to his eyes, he squinted ahead, smiling slightly when he saw a long, brown strip waving in the intense heat. "I think I see them! The mountains are far off, but we're headed in the right direction!"

Yusuke had removed his jacket and wrapped it around his head like a turban, as had Kuwabara and Kurama. "You sure it's no illusion, Jin?"

"We're probably too far away to tell," Serena replied as she walked beside her brother, "but it's as good a lead as any."

"I hope it's where we need to go; it's too hot out here!" Kuwabara's face was almost as red as his hair.

Hiei scoffed, wiping a trail of sweat away from his eye. He was wearing black after all, and felt just as hot as everyone else…but he wouldn't let anyone know that. "Shut up you stupid monkey; the more you think about the heat the more unbearable it becomes." His gaze caught Serena's eyes but quickly looked away.

Kuwabara didn't notice as he retorted, "You stupid troll, don't make me beat you up!"

Serena sighed; the temperature wasn't the only thing boiling out here…some tempers could rival the heat surrounding them. "He's right, Kuwabara. Try thinking about the time you were the coldest; that might help you." Since her encounter with Hiei last night, he'd been avoiding her. 'Hm…' She shook it off; if she thought too much of it, it would drive her crazy.

Jin slowed down and landed, walking beside Kuronue, "Your turn," was all he said before Kuronue stretched out his large bat wings and took off, scouting for the next few hours while Jin got his breath back. "Hey, I see the same line."

"It could still be an illusion," Kurama replied from the rear of the group, dancing slightly to catch up with the rest of them. Walking in sand was no easy feat. "Serena's right; we won't know if it's a mirage until we get closer."

Kuronue shrugged, "Hey Serena, wanna join me up here?"

"I don't know Kuronue, my wings are too brittle." Shrugging her shoulders caused some feathers to shed, making her shake her head in frustration before gathering some of them up for later use as makeshift throwing knives.

Kurama blushed as he watched her from behind, Yoko applauding in his mind. –I knew you weren't so innocent, Suiichi!- he crowed, making Kurama blush even deeper. 'Shut up, we don't want-'

'Staring at Urameshi's twin, fox?'

'-Hiei to hear.' Now Kurama wondered whether to lie or not, but then again it would be quite difficult seeing as Hiei could communicate telepathically with him. 'Yes Hiei,' he replied, telling the truth. 'It's the heat.'

The kroomie grinned back, 'Whatever you say, Kurama.'

Waving at Hiei, Kurama turned his gaze back to the front of the small procession, cocking his head to the side as he watched Serena's hips sway…

He slapped his head, rubbing his eyes, 'It has to be the heat,' he thought as Yoko snickered.

"Oi, I see something! It's flying and big and black and coming right at us!" Kuronue landed and made his scythe appear, twirling it to get some momentum going. They hadn't encountered a demon since last night's owl, and it was high time another reared it's ugly head.

Yusuke stepped protectively in front of his sister. "Can you tell what it is from here?"

The bat demon narrowed his eyes, "No, but it's big, Urameshi."

Kurama pulled a rose from his hair, slashing it to the ground as it transformed from a romantic flower to a weapon of mass destruction…at least when wielded properly.

"I still don't like it," Kuwabara muttered as his spirit sword appeared from his hands, eyeing the flower warily.

"Kittens Kuwabara, kittens," muttered Yusuke as his fist started to glow, letting the cry of indignation roll off his back without so much as a blink.

As the thing approached, it became clear what kind of demon it was. It wasn't humanoid like Yoko or Kuronue, but an animal like the Four Satin Beasts the small group of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama had battled on their first mission.

It was a vulture.

"I have a feeling this one's after me," Serena muttered as she pulled a few feathers from her bag, sending a wave of dark spirit energy through them.

Kurama glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eyes in confusion, "I don't see why. You're dead in a sense, yes, but you're still moving like the rest of us."

Their questions would be answered soon; the bird was barely ten feet away when it pulled up, eyeing each of them carefully.

"My nose tells me vone ov you ees dead, and yet you are all movink. Vhy ees dat?" The vulture looked a little worse for the wear, his wings tattered and ruffled much like Serena's. Against the law of nature for normal birds, the vulture had pointy teeth that the group kept an eye on as he spoke in broken, heavily accented English.

His beady eyes moved over them all, his gaze coming to stop on Serena. "Ah, eet ees your stench I scent," he wheezed, teeth glinting in the high noon sun. "You shall make a good snack for Vlad zee vulture."

Yusuke was about to blast 'Vlad' with a large spirit gun, but Serena's hand in his shoulder held him back. "But Vlad," she said slowly, "I'm still alive."

All the boys watched in amazement as Vlad replied, "But you smell dead!" He landed and placed his wings akimbo as best he could. "Derefore, you are snack!" One of his talons stomped in the sand, sending it flying into her face.

Spitting the sand from her mouth, she treated the potentially life threatening demon like she would her grandfather. "I'm still walking and talking to you Vlad, so I think that makes me alive, no matter how much I stink, yes?"

The vulture blinked, rubbing his beak thoughtfully with a shedding wing. "Vell, I suppose so, but…Vlad's nose never lies!" He took a threatening step forward before Serena took a step, bonking his beak. She was losing patience with this guy.

"Vlad, dead things don't walk, do they?" He opened his mouth to protest but she finally gripped it with her hand, closing it. "NO, they DON'T," she said a little harshly, not so gently shaking his head side to side 'no'.

Eyes bugging slightly, the vulture nodded as Serena let go of his beak. "Ah yes, ok bro, I leave you and all your friends alone," he stuttered once she released his beak, his 'R's rolling. "Never again shall Vlad trust ees nose, must be broken, yes? I vill talk vith food from now on, to make sure ees deceased." Finally convincing himself she wasn't dead, he took off, still shedding black feathers.

Her brother blinked in confusion as Serena slapped here hands together, as if removing dirt from her hands. "What? I could tell he was senile a mile away. And he must be out in the sun for too long, poor guy."

"However strange and easy that was, it won't happen with the next one we might come across," Hiei managed to say through small bursts of laugher, everyone staring at him like he had sprouted another head. "What?" he asked dangerously, "it was amusing." With that, he started walking again.

Yusuke clapped his sister on her shoulder, "Nice one sis. That's how you handle gramps, isn't it?" He watched her nod. Ah yes, Grandpa Urameshi, the longest winded old man he knew. Only Serena could get him to shut up.

Jin was laughing as he followed the others on foot. 'Ah, that lass is a delight!' He finally gained enough use of his legs to catch up to the rest of them, having fallen behind to take a good roll in the sand due to his laughter.

Not a few minutes later, Kuronue called down from his air position, "There's another vulture coming!"

"Is that speculation?" Kurama pulled another rose free from his hair as his old partner in crime landed next to him.

"It's probably a good guess," Serena said as she readied more feather-knives. "I think it's good to be prepared anyway; the percentage of it being friendly is extremely low."

Metal sang from behind her as Hiei readied his sword, giving it a few warm up twirls before returning his eyes to the horizon. The black speck was growing at a larger rate as it got closer, leading them to believe it was a bigger bird than Vlad had been.

This bird was indeed bigger, and was flying at them with its crazed eyes fixed on Serena, its mouth open with a row of sharp, out of place teeth. "I don't think it's friendly!" Yusuke reared his hand back, the blue glow encompassing it before he shouted, "SHOTGUN!"

An array of blue lights shot out from his fist, but the bird expertly dodged every single one. "What the? How did he do that?" The punk growled as he pulled his arm back again, glaring at his little sister when she held him back.

"He's already dodged one fistful, Yusuke. We need to get him out of the air; either that or Jin and Kuronue need to go after him. They're the only ones that have experience in the air. We're out of our element here."

"Well then let's get him on the ground then!" Hiei shot up into the sky, slashing at one of the vulture's wings before he fell to the ground, growling in frustration. Looking at the bird, he saw no blood, no marks.

"What is that thing made out of?" Kuwabara watched as Jin and Kuronue rushed at the vulture, Kuronue's scythe bouncing off the feathers. The wind demon gathered a mini-tornado at his fist, but the bird pumped its massive wings and blew Jin out of the air.

Yusuke glanced back at his sister, his hand glowing again. "Well now what Miss Smarty-Pants?!"

The vulture laughed as another volley of glowing 'bullets' flew past it, "Ah, you are such weaklings!" Grinning toothily, he dove at Serena, his snapping jaws barely missing her ponytail.

"Too bad this one is nothing like Vlad!" Kurama stepped forward next, his rose whip at the ready. As the vulture flew by, Kurama lashed at the bird's neck, only to have his whip redirected at him.

Serena's hand snatched the whip out of thin air, preventing it from hitting Kurama's face before she stepped forward next, tossing a fistful of knives at the bird and watching without much surprise when they bounced off the feathers. "Well, weapons don't work," she muttered as she dodged another swipe, this one catching some of her hair. The next one might be even closer.

"Lemme take a shot!" Kuwabara stepped forward next, extending his spirit energy sword, rushing to stand next to Serena, the bird's intended target. He held up the sword as Yusuke shot off another shotgun, forcing the bird into Kuwabara's blade, slicing right though the right wing.

The bird shrieked as it fell to the ground, but not without sending its talons into Serena's right arm first, the girl's pained shrieks answering the pained cry of the bird.

Kurama saw red then, feeling himself grow taller as his hair turned white and his eyes gold. Throwing out the whip again, he was successful in roping it around the unnamed vulture's neck, pulling it tightly.

Jin rushed over to Serena, examining her arm as Yoko continued choking the giant vulture. "Serena? You ok?" Jin gently pulled the bloodied bandages aside from her arm, sighing in relief when he saw the talons had only grazed her skin.

She sat up to see the bird go limp as Yoko unwound the whip from the neck. Te whip transformed back into a flower before he tossed it to the ground, letting it die. In a split second, he was by her side, holding her hand, "Serena, are you ok?"

Serena looked in between the two, nodding. "Yeah I'm fine, it just aches a little." She examined it as well, making a face because of the now needed bandage change.

Hiei calmly walked over to the growing group surrounding her, "You ok?" He nodded at her arm, his red eyes narrowing slightly. When that huge overgrown bird came at her, he wanted to rip the thing to shreds- if his sword had any kind of effect on it. 'What is this feeling?' He was angry at himself, but why? He shook his head before standing and walking away a few paces. "So?"

"She's fine, Hiei," Yoko replied as he let Kurama take over, who hugged Serena tightly. "Come on, let's get your bandage changed so we can keep moving."

Yusuke warily watched the three demons around Serena. If he didn't know any better, he'd say his little sister had quite the fanclub.

---

Serena scratched the bandages; there was sand under there, she knew it! Sighing in frustration, she wished with all her might for the sun to set. That would mean they could stop for the night; she was achy, which she didn't even know could happen. But there was a dull throbbing in her feet and legs, so it had to mean something.

From behind her, Hiei watched her wings begin to sag. How could she be getting tired? She said herself she didn't sleep, so didn't that also mean she didn't get tired? Eyeing her, he walked closer to Yusuke. "Maybe we should take a rest."

The boy looked to Hiei in surprise, following his gaze to his sister. "Where would you suggest we take a rest Hiei? Under that cactus?"

Hiei glared at Yusuke, "We should do something; she looks like she's about to drop. We'd waste more time by stopping after she's hurt than by preventing it." He tried to make his concern seem like an insult, looking at Serena out of the corner of his eye, something inside him crumbling when he caught the hurt in her eyes.

The other members of the small team glared at the kroomie, the small man glaring right back. Their blamefest was interrupted by fluttering wings as Serena fell to her knees, gripping her head.

"Oh my gosh, I'm too hot…" She sighed as she arched her wings over herself, trying to get in some shade. "Why do I feel like this?"

Jin dashed over to her and conjured a small whirlwind, using it to fan her face. "It might be because you're not built for this weather, as it were."

"And you're layered up; that can't be good." Kuwabara stood over her, casting his large shadow over her face, Kuronue doing the same as he opened his wings.

Hiei didn't add salt to the wound, but instead started looking around for any possible cave or tree that would help with finding some shade. Nightfall was a few hours away, and they needed some shelter now.

"I'll fly ahead," Kuronue said as he stood, drawing his wings together for a powerful thrust into the air. "I'll try to find a cave or something and get back to you." Receiving a nod from Yusuke, he took off, becoming a black speck in an instant.

Serena shook her head in shame. She hated being weak, especially in front of a fantastic team of spirit detectives like this. 'Why can't I ever be the strong one for once? Why am I always rescued?' She hated the feeling of needing help from someone to save her skin when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself.

Yusuke knelt down next to his twin sister, hugging her from the side. "Hey, it's ok, Serena. We're here for you."

"But I don't want you to have to be here for me; I want to do this on my own, but I can't; I'm not strong enough!" She pounded her fist into the sand, spraying it into the windy air. "I wan to be able to take care of myself. If I did, we wouldn't be in this mess right now. You all wouldn't be putting your lives on the line to protect me, to get me back to normal." Her voice was low, defeated.

Kurama listened as she delivered her spiel, his heart breaking. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, "But we like being here for you, that's what people do when they care about someone."

She smiled sadly, a bloody tear streaking down her cheek; she couldn't help it. "Thank you, but I still want to be able to do things on my own."

"That's why you're taking lessons from me," Hiei spoke up as he walked over to the group. "So that you can take care of yourself. You're on the road to being able to take care of yourself."

"It doesn't just happen in one day," said Jin, beginning to feel left out. Taking her hand and lifting her up, he nodded in the direction where Kuronue had disappeared in. "Let's walk; I'm feeling useless."

"And it'll get us to where we might need to be," said Yusuke as he eyed Jin's hand that had strayed to Serena's waist. "Come on, let's go."

Serena took the assistance Jin offered, leaning against him heavily as the group trudged on.

Kuwabara eyed Serena in confusion. Her spirit energy seemed to be fighting against the black energy of the reaper and it seemed to be weakening her. They needed to find that Sword of Light and kill the Reaper demon quick. Serena's life depended on it.

---

Kuronue returned a little later and led them to a small cave three miles from their position, and Kuwabara decided to tell Yusuke what he felt as the others took care of Serena.

"What," Yusuke hissed as Kuwabara finished his tale. "She's getting weaker?"

"This heat prolly ain't the best thing for her, either." He eyed Serena's slightly red face in concern; a strange emotion to see on the punk's face. "We need to go against this guy fast; we might have to kill him before the tournament."

Yusuke steepled his fingers as he sat on a rock, eyes shining in the light of the fire. "This gives us less than a week and a half to get the sword, find the demon, and teach Serena what she needs to go up against him in an unfair fight."

"I wish we could wait for the tournament, but Serena's spirit energy seems to get weaker; not by much, but still."

The two friends watched as Serena joked and laughed with the demons, and they knew they couldn't see her die.

Things obviously just got a lot harder.

---

There's chapter six, hope you liked it! And as always, please read and review!

-MoonFace01


	7. Chapter 7

OMG, the long awaited chapter 7! At least I hope it is, lol! Well, go read my profile for updates and stuff; I have some other oneshot fics in the works, but I will hopefully update this a little over the summer! Enjoy!

As usual, nothing but the plot belongs to me…and the reaper demon; I haven't seen the last season of YuYu, and it's been a while since I've watched them, I'll admit, but I don't think they've come across something like this. If they have, kudos to YuYu's creator and shame on me for not seeing/remembering it! Anyway, onward!

Chapter 7

Serena sighed from her position on the cool floor of the cave Kuronue had found. She wasn't feeling so well in this heat. Was it because she was covered in bandages? Or something else? 'I'm dead, I shouldn't be over heating like this.'

And she shouldn't be so tired, either.

She hadn't felt tired since the day of the attack as the demon drained her of life, and then she felt nothing.

But now, her limbs felt like lead, her legs were screaming at her to lay down and rest, and her eyes were burning. 'Gods, I wish this would just stop,' she wearily thought, flinging her arm over her eyes, closing them.

From on the other side of the cave, Kurama saw her weariness. 'Why is she looking so tired,' he wondered as he leaned into the rock behind him. 'What do you think, Yoko?'

There was a pause before the spirit fox mentally sighed. –I don't know, Suiichi, but there **is** a sense of weariness there in her eyes.-

-I overheard Urameshi talking with the oaf; she's getting weaker.- Hiei stepped out of the shadows, watching the emotions fly over Kurama's face.

-Weaker?- Kurama asked, eyebrows knitting together. –How is that possible?- Her powers should be keeping her alive.

'But only for so long, apparently,' Hiei replied, 'because Kuwabara says he feels her aura weakening.'

Kuwabara's powers were hardly reliable, but Kurama felt that the slightly daft Spirit Detective was right. Seeing her fling her arm wearily over her face only cemented what Kuwabara was sensing. 'Why haven't they told us yet then?'

Hiei shrugged, the fading light of the day casting dark shadows over the kroomie's face. 'I don't know, but I expect we'll find out soon.' With that, he decided he would give Serena a break in her training for the night, but stepped out of the cave to hone his own skills, giving Serena a dismissive wave when she sat up in question.

Serena was glad when Hiei shook his hand at her to tell her training was off for the night. 'I don't think I'll be able to even lift my sword,' she thought as she fell back to the ground. Hopefully this weakness would fade sometime soon; she needed all her strength to fight the reaper demon in the tournament.

Yusuke walked over to her and knelt beside her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Hey, you ok?"

She nodded, a bright, fake, smile crossing her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to cool down a bit is all. Gotta say though, I'm glad we left Touya behind; he'd probably have melted by now."

Yusuke grinned thinly as his sister tried to crack a joke. "Yeah, he'd be a huge puddle by now." Sweeping her bangs from her face again, he gave her a gentle grin before he made his way over to Kurama and Hiei. "Kuwabara says she's getting weaker. Did either of you come across anything in our research that might tell us why?"

Hiei shook his head, "I didn't find anything that might have helped."

Suiichi and Yoko thought about it for a while, sighing in frustration when nothing came to mind. "I can't recall," Suiichi finally replied, his hand rubbing his chin. Changing the subject, he asked, "Do you know how far away we are from the mountains?"

"Another few days, I'd say," Kuronue interrupted as he came to stand in the small circle, their eyes flitting over to Jin who was fanning Serena with a small cyclone.

"She might not last that long," said Yusuke. "She's so tired right now; you can feel it coming off of her."

The other members of the small group had to agree.

The next day saw no improvement in Serena's state. Yusuke had almost gone off the deep end when his sister's eyes were closed, expecting the worst. In a sudden snap decision, he prodded her shoulder, relieved and shocked when he saw her open her eyes like she'd been…sleeping. 'But she doesn't sleep in that form,' Yusuke tried to tell himself. That could only mean that his sister's status was worsening.

The small team had been walking for a while out in the hot midday sun, Suiichi pondering as to why Serena was getting tired. 'Could it have anything to do with the fact that we're heading towards an area with high negative spirit energy? Maybe fighting inside and outside forces is too much.'

Yoko pondered for a second before mentally shrugging. –I don't know, you might need to ask someone about it. Maybe you can get someone at Koenma's palace to look it up.-

'We may have to do that,' he replied as he saw Serena leaning against her brother for support. Even her wings were dropping in exhaustion, her eyes hooded as she tromped along side her twin. Pulling out his communicator, he fell to the back of the group. "Botan?"

She appeared on the small screen in her reaper's outfit. "Oh, hello Kurama," she said in her British lilt. "How goes the mission?"

"Not good I'm afraid. Serena's getting weak; she was actually 'sleeping' this morning." He hated to admit it, but both he and Yoko had been scared out of their wits when he saw Yusuke tap her shoulder, worry heavy in his eyes.

Botan frowned as she tapped her chin with her oar. "That's not good. Did you want me to see if I could find something in our libraries as to what it could be?"

Kurama nodded, "I would appreciate it, Botan. Yoko and I both think it could possibly be the fact that she's fighting the corruption and the negative energy we're getting closer to."

"Makes sense," she muttered softly as she walked through the halls to the grand library. "Alright, I'll get back to you when I have something. Botan out."

Clicking the small compact shut, he jogged to catch up to the rest of the team. Just as he pulled up the rear, a rumbling began under their feet. 'Oh no, not what we need,' he thought as he pulled out a rose, staying close to Serena.

"Now what?" shouted Yusuke as he let his sister rest against Jin, readying his Spirit Gun at anything that moved.

"I sense a strong spirit energy comin' from below us!" Kuwabara cried as his sword appeared.

A split second later, a geyser of sand flew up from the ground, causing everyone to splutter as it went into their eyes and mouths. When the sand finally settled, a huge scorpion stood before them, his claws almost too small for its body.

Kuwabara smiled toothily at it, "No prob! His claws are tiny!"

"Which only means that his poison is highly toxic!" Serena shouted from Jin's shoulder. "Don't you ever pay attention in biology, Kuwabara?" Her yell mirrored Yusuke's as her temper flared.

The orange boy's eyes went wide and his face turned white as a sheet as the creature's tail reared up behind the sun, light glinting off its huge, black stinger. "That's one big tail."

"MOVE!"

Everyone in striking distance leapt away as the tail came screaming down, pounding harshly into the sand before rising again, ready to strike, the scorpion hissing.

"Long distance attacks will be best," said Kurama as he pulled his arm back, aiming for its legs. Maybe if he could immobilize it, they would have a chance. Flicking his wrist out, the whip sailed to the three legs on the right side of its body.

The scorpion lashed out with its small claws, effectively cutting the whip in half before it turned to the next closest target: Kuronue.

The bat demon threw out his scythe, hoping to cut off a leg or two, but it met the same fate as Kurama's rose whip: the chain was shattered by the demon's deceptively small looking claws.

Yusuke was up next, brandishing his fist. "SHOT GUN!" Millions of tiny bullets of light sailed from his hands, being deflected by the scorpion's tough outer shell. "Well what now? No one can get close enough!" Each time someone tried getting close, the tail would slam down, and each time someone tried throwing something, it was deflected by the claws.

Serena leaned heavily on Jin. "Do you think you'd be able to do anything?"

He shook his head, "I'd jus' be able to blow at it a little; it's too big to get rid of it and my wind attacks won't do any good against the armor."

Hiei unsheathed his sword, hoping his agility would be good enough. Blinking out of sight, he appeared just above the demon's tail, swiping at it to cut it off.

The demon hissed as the large stinger was removed, spraying green blood everywhere. It suddenly went berserk and flew forward, its claws snapping menacingly as the large creature moved faster than it seemed able to.

Serena shoved Jin out of the way as the large black blur raced towards them, using her momentum to also push herself out of the way, curling up in a ball as the scorpion's legs sailed over her head, missing her by inches. The creature stopped over her, a leg rising into the air, coming down inches from her face.

"Serena, get out of there!" Yusuke's heart stopped when Serena's form disappeared under flying sand and flailing limbs. No one could get close enough to grab her from harms way, the scorpion still snapping in random directions in its rage.

Lifting her hands from her eyes, Serena looked at the scorpion's underbelly. Surely there had to be a weak spot here. Pulling at a feather in her wing, she willed her energy into it before tossing it randomly, cursing when a small 'tink' sounded. Eyes darting around, she saw a spot of brown on its belly. Aiming for that, she threw another feather, crying out in triumph as the scorpion screeched. Then it occurred to her that she might not want to be underneath it. Scrambling on her hands and knees, she made it out from under it just as the body smashed to the ground.

"SERENA!" Yusuke shot forward as Serena pulled herself out of the small sand dune the scorpion created when it fell. He pulled her up, examining her before tightly pulling her into a hug. "Oh my God, are you ok?"

She hugged him back tightly, feeling his heart pounding through his shirt. "I'm fine Yusuke, I'm fine." Pulling away from him, she looked briefly down at herself. "See, not a scratch." But now she felt extremely tired, and it showed.

"Now you're tired though," said Yusuke as he picked her up. "Come on, we've gotta find shelter, and fast."

The others agreed with him as they walked around the body of the huge demon, eyeing it warily before rushing to catch up to Yusuke, who was already a fair distance away.

Kurama took up the rear again, angry at himself for not being able to help Serena in her time of need. The large demon had not been overly powerful, just difficult to deal with; it had 'three' weapons, after all.

From his subconscious, Yoko had to agree. –It was rather weak, but still.- The spirit fox huffed. –Why hasn't Botan called us back yet?-

'We only made the call a few minutes ago. Remember when we were all trying to look for a cure and how long it took?'

-But we don't have time!- Yoko exploded as he 'paced' in their shared mind.

'Don't you think I know that?' Kurama shouted back just as loud. 'It's all we can do right now though, that and take care of her.' He looked back to the front at Yusuke carrying his younger sister, her wings draping weakly over his arms, curled into his side. 'I don't want to lose her any more than you do.'

After half the day had been walked away, the small group started seeing some vegetation on the ground. Looking further into the distance, the dark line they had seen the previous day turned out to be a forest. "Well, there's your forest, Kuronue," said Yusuke, smirking slightly.

Kuronue glared back at the older Urameshi sibling before placing his hat back on his head. "Haha, very funny Urameshi."

Serena curled tighter into Yusuke's arms, "You're being too loud, Yusuke," she mumbled quietly, eyes clenched tightly shut.

Her brother stopped his bantering with Kuronue, eyes softening. "Sorry Serena. Come on guys, we gotta find some shelter."

Kuwabara stopped just short of entering the forest, his face taking on that familiar shade of pale it was so fond of turning. "Wait a second guys. This forest is really evil."

Hiei glared at Kuwabara, "Of course it's evil you monkey, it's at the base of the Hakeshi mountain range, where no one goes." His voice was sarcastic as he glared at the pale faced Kuwabara.

"No," said Kuwabara, shocking everyone present when he didn't come back with a 'shrimp' comment. "There's an evil aura here, it's pretty strong."

Jin looked at Serena, who was barely responsive in her brother's arms. "D'ya think there could be some kinda monster guardin' the sword?"

'That could also be the reason why Serena's feeling under the weather,' thought Suiichi. 'The demonic aura of whatever is in the mountain could be making her weak.' Pondering for a second more, he poked Yoko. 'Do you know if anything could be up there?'

-I can't recall anything,- replied to spirit fox, irked that Suiichi had poked him. He was paying attention! -Has Botan called back yet?-

Kurama ducked under a low hanging tree branch, 'I would have told you if she had.'

It was then that Yoko noted the change in scenery. –We're in the forest at the base of the mountain now?- He received a mental nod in response. –How is she?-

Green eyes tinted lightly with gold looked at Serena, still being carried by her brother. –She doesn't look good.-

'I know.' Suiichi replied. He reached a hand inside his pocket and fiddled with the communicator, willing it to ring. 'Come on Botan, call us back.'

'Fox.'

Kurama glared at Hiei. 'Must you call me that?'

A few steps ahead of him, Hiei shrugged, eyes elsewhere. 'Are you talking to yourself again?'

'Very funny, Hiei,' he replied. 'Do you know if there are any creatures living in the forest that could be giving off an aura like that?'

The kroomie shook his head, 'I've never traveled to this area before,' he said with a shrug. 'But if there is something here, it could be throwing off an aura that is affecting Serena.'

'That's what I figured as well,' said Kurama, running a hand through his red hair. 'I contacted Botan to see if there was anything in the books that could help us.'

Hiei nodded, refusing to let the concern show on his face. 'The blue haired onna better get back to us soon; the younger Urameshi doesn't look like she's faring so well.' His red eyes lingered on her before he stepped up to the front of the group. "I'm scouting ahead," he mumbled before he dashed away.

Yusuke watched him go, a little surprised, before he turned to the others. "Well, I guess we'll just keep moving." Hefting Serena in his arms, he took a slightly trembling step forward.

Serena felt her brother's legs wobble a bit. Placing a fist on his chest, she placed her feet on the ground, despite his objections. "Hush Yusuke, you've been carrying me since yesterday." Her legs trembled as she held her own weight, her hand now tightly clasped on Yusuke's shoulder.

"You still need help," said Yusuke, frowning.

Kurama stepped forward, "I can carry her for a while." Without waiting for a reply, he easily lifted Serena in his arms, motioning with his head for Yusuke to continue walking. "Lead the way."

Yusuke lifted an eyebrow, a trick that he learned from Serena, and shrugged. "Fine."

Serena adjusted her wings as the small group began moving again. "So, how are you, Kurama? Haven't had the chance to talk with you for a while."

"Indeed, there are a lot of people here." A mental prod caused him to frown slightly. 'What?'

-That's the best reply you can come up with? You've got to be kidding me.- Yoko mentally slapped his own forehead in frustration.

Sending a very inhuman-like growl at Yoko, Suiichi turned back to Serena. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah, I asked how Yoko was doing."

Suiichi felt Yoko preen before he replied, "He's being his annoying self as always."

-HEY!- In a sudden decision, Yoko mentally tackled Suiichi, wrestling for control of the body.

Serena narrowed her eyes at Kurama when they started flashing between gold and green, the steady pace he had been walking slowing to nothing. "Kurama?" The eyes flashed gold, and the body grew a few inches in height, hair silvering, Kurama's yellow gi fading into a white toga.

"It's Yoko," he said, flashing a fanged grin. "And I'm doing fine, Serena." His cocky air vanished as he looked at her in concern, "But how are you doing?"

She let her head fall against his chest, "I'm so weak, which is weird. I'm dead, I can't feel anything. Or well, I'm not supposed to." She rubbed her forehead and draped her arm around Yoko's neck.

Yoko smiled slightly at the touch before getting serious again. "Tired? When did you start feeling like that?"

"As soon as we started getting closer to the mountain range," she said. "Before that, I felt as fine as I could be, considering I'm dead."

'Well, this could cement our theory,' Suiichi said. 'Now we just need to wait for a call from Botan to confirm it.'

Speaking of the blue haired reaper, the communicator in the back pocket of Yoko's breeches began to beep. Pulling it up by his tail, he tossed it to Yusuke. "Answer that," he said before walking up front by Kuronue.

Yusuke shrugged and did as he was told, hanging back slightly before answering it. "Yusuke."

"Oh," Botan blinked in slight confusion before shaking her head. "Well, I thought Kurama requested this information, but you'll do. He said he thought there was a possibility of Serena weakening because of the demon energy swirling around the mountain range and the corrupted energy in her own body." She paused a second and shook her head. "Unfortunately, there has been no record of another case like this; Serena is the first angelic adavism in our records, there are only theories up to this point. If she keeps getting weaker, I fear she will close her eyes one day and never open them again. If that happens, there is a spell I can give you so that she can share a soul with a member of your team."

Yusuke felt his stomach drop to his feet when Botan said there was no other record of another case like Serena's, but his hope rose again when Botan told him about the spell. "Yeah? What is it?"

Botan rattled off to him the procedure as she slammed a heavy book on the table. "And she has to be connected to a powerful spirit, preferably one that hasn't died; the bond won't be as strong since they've already been separated from their body." That ruled himself and Kuronue out, and Yusuke didn't trust Hiei or Kuwabara. He didn't really know Jin that well, so that left only one person.

Kurama.

"Would Kurama be ok?"

Botan nodded. "Yes, he's strong enough, even more so since there are two souls inside his body; she'll anchor to both."

Yusuke nodded again, deftly avoiding a low hanging branch. "Do we have to wait or what? I'd rather do it now."

The reaper shook her head, "No, you have to wait. Technically she's still 'alive', so to speak, her soul's still in her body. We could give her a spirit egg like you, but you're all in the middle of something. You'll have to anchor her to Kurama after she's 'died'." Botan paused again. "Will you still go after the sword?"

"It'll be pointless," Yusuke murmured, shaking his head. "But if the guy goes after her again-"

"Which he very well could," Hiei interrupted. "Reaper demons pride themselves on killing the most powerful beings, and since Serena's still alive…"

"He'll prolly come back fer her," said Jin, butting in as well.

Yusuke sighed. "So we'll continue the mission for the sword because we'll need it, but if she passes before the tournament, does it matter who kills the demon?"

Botan shook her head, "No, it won't matter by then. If she does pass before the sword is found, have her bind to Kurama's souls and get the sword. When you return, we'll give her a spirit egg after separating her from Kurama and she'll come back to life that way. At the tournament, anyone can kill the reaper."

"I will."

The boys stopped and turned to Serena, who was shakily walking towards them, a disgruntled Yoko Kurama not far behind.

"No-" Yusuke started, but was again interrupted.

"Yes I will, this thing wanted to kill ME and I will return the favor. I'm not some fragile flower, Yusuke, I can take care of myself!" Fury filled her eyes as she yelled at Yusuke, purple energy flowing around her, making her wince.

"Serena, you're hurting yourself, stop it!" Yusuke grabbed her hands, "Calm down."

She forced her anger away, the purple energy disappearing from her hands as she let her face fall into Yusuke's chest, the other members of the team watching on in dread as red tears fell from her cheeks. "Yusuke, I'm so tired…"

He hugged her, not minding the brown stains her tears were making on his green uniform shirt. "I know," he said gently, tears swimming in his eyes. "We will get you out of this, ok?"

Kuwabara cleared his throat, "I hate to interrupt, but something big's coming this way." In reply, Serena's legs gave out form under her as she grabbed her head, Yusuke helping her to the forest floor.

"He's right," she groaned, hands tightening around her head. Her body felt like it was being crushed in between two walls, the pressure building in her veins with no where to escape.

Yoko stepped protectively in front of Serena, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder before pulling a rose from his hair, it easily transforming into a whip. He flicked his wrist in anticipation, causing a resounding crack in the forest.

Kuronue pulled a scythe from his belt, fingering the handle as the demonic energy grew. It tingled at the edge of his senses, writhing and growing as the demon approached. "What do you think it could be?"

Yusuke glanced back at his sister. "You seem to guess what's coming," he said gently. "What do you know about wooded areas?"

Serena shook her head, looking around. "It looks like a tropical forest, so it could be anything from a reptile to a large cat. I don't see any animal footprints or anything, so it might be a demon in human form."

"A class B at least, perhaps a class A," said Hiei, his eyes narrowing, using his thumb to pop the blade of his sword slightly from the sheath.

Kuwabara shook for a moment before his hand started to glow. "Something tells me this is going to be a rough fight."

The leaves in front of them rustled, dark energy swirling from it before a man stepped forward. The scales that covered his body were dark brown, the pupils to his eyes slit like a snake's. He flicked out a pink tongue, the sides of his neck slightly fanning when he saw them. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The demon's voice was slick, with a slight Asian accent to it. His eyes swept over the small group, resting on Serena. "Ah, so a reaper got you, hm? So I guess you're looking for a certain sword?"

Yusuke stepped forward, his fists glowing. "Yeah, and what if we are?"

"I won't allow you to take it," he said.

Yoko's golden eyes narrowed. "What use do you have of it?"

The demon shrugged. "If that sword were to get out of where it's been sealed, the whole demon race would be in trouble. I don't know where you got your information, but it doesn't only just kill reaper demons; it would kill us all. So why are you defending her?"

"They're friends of mine and she's my sister," Yusuke growled.

The party grew tense as the demon smirked, revealing long fangs. 'Do you know what kind of snake it is?' Hiei sent to Serena telepathically.

'I just know he's a cobra, pretty poisonous, but nothing definite. I'd need to see the back of his hood,' she explained, hoping her projection made it to all the mind-reading demons on her team.

Yoko, Kuronue, and Hiei all made a small movement to let her know they'd heard her before their attention went back to the cobra in front of them.

"Ah, a revenge mission then. But prey tell, how is the girl alive? She looks like a very pretty vulture demon to me, and yet there's no…" he flicked his tongue in her direction, "heat, coming off her."

Serena narrowed her eyes at the cobra demon, dark power swirling around her hands before abruptly fading away. She took a small step back to gain her balance as dizziness swept her system. 'How do I feel dizzy?' she thought, her anger increasing when the demon laughed at her.

He doubled over, not caring that the other demons in the small clearing were glaring at him. "Ah, an angel, then? Ha ha ha! You're killing yourself with that dark, corrupted energy and my own dark spirit energy is making it worse. And you," he turned to Yoko, who was growling now, "You love her, don't you?"

Yoko snapped then, rushing forward with his whip aimed at the cobra's heart, but since he was blinded by rage, the cobra easily side stepped him.

As the snake turned, Serena caught a glimpse of a small circle on the hood. Dread ate at her stomach as a paragraph from her biology book came to her. "Monocle cobra!" she shouted. Their poison was one of the deadliest in the world.

In a swift move, the cobra's teeth closed around air instead of Yoko's neck as the spirit demon dodged sharply to the left. Skidding in the dirt, he tossed his hair of his face to look at the cobra who was smiling. "Your angel of death is correct."

More dark energy poured from Serena's body, making her fall to her knees. 'Why is this happening?'

"You're probably wondering why you feel so weak," said the cobra demon as he stayed back from a snarling Yoko. "It's because you're using the dark energy that corrupted your soul, exposing your weak spirit to it. You're becoming dependent on it, and it's killing you."

She waved the energy away as she pressed her hands to the forest floor, pushing herself into a standing position.

"Ah," he observed, slinking around a tree. "I see I have rendered the angel of death speechless, hm?"

Another wave of dark energy flowed from Serena's hands as her temper grew, swirling around her body in a dark cloud, eyes turning a deep purple.

"Serena, calm down!" Yoko shouted.

Her breath was ragged, her hands shaking from the force of the power rolling from her palms, her eyes clenching shut. 'What is this feeling?' Anger swamped her system, preventing her from any rational thought, and it was scaring her. It was like something else was taking control…

Kuwabara's eyes went wide as something seemed to burst from Serena's body, "Hit the deck!"

Serena's back arched backwards as she screamed, a large cloud escaping from her body and growing into a large figure, solidifying into a large man. His skin was as dark as his clothes, yellow eyes peering at the cobra with mild disinterest. On the other hand, the cobra was now shaking in fear as the figure put his arms out to the side of his body and spinning, dark power flying everywhere like a tornado.

The sky went dark as the small team fell to the ground, Kuronue grabbing his hat as the wind whipped around the clearing, small bursts of electricity charging the air around them.

Yoko's eyes were wide with worry as Serena was lifted slightly off the ground, her head thrown back in a silent cry, lightning bursting from her hands. Tears streamed from her cheeks, as if the attack was causing her great pain.

The cobra was picked up in the small gale, cat-like eyes wide with fright as little pieces of debris slashed at his skin. Soon a large dust cloud was whipping around the snake, cries of pain echoing through the forest as his skin was seared from his body. Moments later, the attack started to die down, the dust falling from the central cloud, revealing nothing of the demon but a pile of bones.

Yusuke watched in shock as the shadow broke contact from Serena's body, fading away and taking a small light with it, making him worry. He recognized it as a soul. Darting forward, he caught her body before it fell to the ground. "Serena, Serena!"

She was unresponsive as he slapped at her cheeks, fearing the worst. "Yoko, call Botan, we need that spell!"

Yoko fished for the communicator he'd put back in his pocket, calling Botan. The woman's face appeared on the screen, her smile turning to a frown when she saw the desperation on his face. "Botan, we need the spell!"

"Alright Yoko, she'll be bonding to yours and Suiichi's soul, so stand next to her and take her hand!"

He did as he was told, taking her small, cold hand in his larger warmer one. "And?"

"You've got to think about anchoring your souls to Serena's body to keep her here in the real world," she said quickly. "It's more of a feeling thing than actual chanting," she explained as Yoko sensed his spirit energy swirling around Serena's body. His was a bright gold, Suiichi's a blood red, dancing around her body before a tendril of each shot into her body and around her heart. He thought about how much he loved her, and how much he would miss her if she died, willing his spirit to chain her to the Earth, Suichii doing the same.

Serena gasped and sat up, clutching her chest as the pieces of spirit energy clutched at her hart, firmly gripping it before flowing into her body. Her eyes were clear, blue with green and gold flecks surrounding the iris, her skin rosy again, her breathing and heart rate fast and loud.

Seeing his sister alive again in his lap made Yusuke cry out in relief, snatching her hands from Yoko's as he hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face. "Thank God you're ok," he whispered into her hair. When she died, he felt something within himself snap, knowing it was the bond he shared with her as a twin had been severed.

Taking a deep breath and strangely thinking about how awkward it felt, she replied, "I'm fine Yusuke, I'm fine." Her heartbeat felt loud in her own ears, her breath thundering. "What happened?"

Kuronue stepped up beside the brother sister duo, standing over Yoko. "You don't remember what happened?" He saw her shake her head, grabbing it.

"I just was so angry…"

"Your anger took control of your mind," said Hiei, "and then the energy took control of your body and destroyed the cobra demon." His eyes wandered over to the pile of bones a few steps away, trying to keep the mask on his face as she grew extremely pale and started shaking like a leaf.

'I did that?' she thought. 'What happened to him to just leave bones like that?' Yoko's hands on her shoulder brought her from her thoughts. He shook his head, telling her she didn't want to know. "I'll take your word for it."

"Come on," said Jin gently, walking up to the front of the group, "we need t' find that sword and get back to the Spirit World so you can learn how t' use it."

Tearing her eyes from the skeleton was harder than she thought. She didn't feel comfortable around blood and gore (unlike her twin), but sometimes she just couldn't help it; it was darkly mesmerizing. After managing it, she marched next to Yusuke, her strength back. "So how am I alive now?"

"You're connected to Suiichi's and my soul," said Yoko as his eyes slowly faded to green and his silver hair splotched red, shrinking as Suiichi again took control of the body. "I'm guessing that's why your eye color has changed."

"Connected to you? What about my own soul? And my eyes?"

"It cannot be retrieved right now," said Boton's voice from the communicator. "It's in a very difficult place to reach since it was corrupted, and you don't have time right now for a spirit beast; soul bonding was the fastest solution. And your eyes are a mix between yours and the souls you're connected to."

She blinked, deciding to hash out the details later, merely shrugging as she rubbed at her eyes. "Ok, so was that demon the only one protecting the sword?"

Hiei shrugged, surprising the small party with the uncharacteristic action. "There may be more since he said if we got a hold of it, no demon would be safe."

"Does that mean only the pure of heart can use it?" asked Kuronue.

Kuwabara quirked his eyebrow at the tall bat demon. "Why would that matter?"

"Because stupid," said Yusuke, growing irritated, his earlier shock gone, "if it didn't matter, the demon would have had it and would be using it for his own gain."

"Hey, don't call me stupid!"

A sharp whistle cut through their bickering. "Shut up, both of you," Serena scolded, "If we don't get going now, another demon might make his way to it and 'guard' it." Shifting her wings, some grey feathers fell from them, a crisp and pure white replacing the dead grey.

Hey guys, there was chapter 7! Read and review, please!

-MoonFace01


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